The visit by the President to Lower Eastern has been a subject of debate, political manoeuvres and rumours since it was first mooted close to three months ago.
Unlike other presidential visits to other parts of the republic, Kamba leaders have engaged in different political dances and tunes as they seek to outwit each other over who should take the centre stage and credit for bringing President Uhuru Kenyatta home.
These political duels remind Kenyans of a famous quip made by former Internal Security minister, the late John Michuki, in 2006.
Annoyed by fellow Cabinet minister Charity Ngilu’s political antics, Michuki said Ngilu was engaging in the famous “Wathi Wa Mukamba dance”, a colloquial reference to a legendary freestyle Kamba rhythm often performed for dignitaries during national days.
The dance is normally very well coordinated by the professional dancers. But it does not signal its start or end. It commences with a high tempo and ends suddenly, leaving spectators confused and asking for more.
To date, nobody has ever deciphered Michuki’s real analogy of the dance to Ngilu’s political noise at the time. Ngilu made a few tirades of her own, but they failed to eclipse the Michuki barb.
So what ‘dance’ will the Kamba politicians offer the President during his three-day visit expected to start today?
There is a general consensus in the region that Uhuru has looked the “other way” as his cousins are starved of government largesse and high-profile appointments in the last three years.
There is the issue of the exploitation of essential minerals, which are said to be plenty in the three counties, despite promises to fast-truck exploitation.
Geologists say Ukambani is home to some of the finest coalfields in the world, but the region has continued to bleed economically. The locals are likely to demand that the President gives a timeline for the mining of the energy mineral, whose exploitation is eagerly anticipated.
There is also the abundantly availabile iron, limestone and clinker, among other unexploited minerals.
The Konza Techno City Project is also on the cards. Despite the ground work having been well laid out by former President Kibaki, the project is yet to kick off in earnest and is one of the major concerns of the population in Machakos, Kitui and Makueni.
It had been hoped that the commencement of the project will trigger a trickle-down effect to the region through improved development of infrastructure, and with that, enormous economic rent for the people. There are widespread concerns that even at its formative stage, the Konza project has benefited “outsiders” more than the local community, an anomaly they would want addressed.
Of course, there is excitement about the freebies expected to be doled out by Uhuru.
Among these are the dualling of the Machakos-Kyumbi road and the tarmacking of the Kibwezi-Kitui, Kandwia-Tseikuru and Machakos-Kangundo roads. But there are indications that, due to projects such as the Machakos Peoples Park, the leaders may request for the road to be dualled all the way to Machakos and to the Konza metropolis.
The challenge to capital projects is financing. The President is privy of the shoe-tight budget that must be evenly distributed among all the regions of the republic. As such, he will be careful on the promises he makes during the visit.
The icing on the cake is the high-voltage politics expected to be at play. There is the Kalonzo and Wiper question to deal with.
Uhuru handlers have made it clear to all and sundry that Kalonzo will be invited for all the functions. The climax of them is Mwingi, Kalonzo’s political stomping ground.
It is expected that Kalonzo will be prevailed upon to forge closer working relations with Uhuru for the sake of national and regional development.
Kalonzo advisers will be slow to allow their party to be swallowed by Jubilee because of various reasons. The first is the role and position the Wiper man will be offered by Jubilee. The second is a selfish desire by Wiper stalwarts to control the party politically with a view to winning various seats in 2017.
Among the key political players in Wiper, other than the governors, are party chairman David Musila, maverick Machakos Senator Johnstone Muthama and Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo Jr.
There are “friendly” senior politicians like Charity Ngilu who have indicated willingness to work with Kalonzo for the umpteenth time.
But her detractors say she will once again go her own way, different to Wiper, and may even rejoin Jubilee. The political joke in Ukambani is that Ngilu is “on loan” in Wiper from Jubilee and will soon return to her “parent” political club.
Uhuru handlers, however, say the President will give political sideshows a major dummy. Here, the President is relying on a cable of trusted friends, former schoolmates and civil servants. He will be presenting his credentials for re-election as a friend of the community and may not care much about the grassroots political issues, other than development and his hunt for presidential votes.
The President is fully aware of Kalonzo’s dilemma in Cord over the presidential ticket.
The Kamba community has declared that unless Cord honours a deal allowing Kalonzo to run on its ticket, then the presidential vote will be up for grabs. This is a well-founded political fear in Cord and it is spreading in Ukambani like a bushfire.
It is this political dilemma that Uhuru will need to exploit to get the Jubilee target of 500,000 votes. Why then, are Kamba leaders confused on who should spearhead the Uhuru visit?
It so happens that the leaders are privy to the political situation on the ground. They know that the community still looks at Wiper supremo Kalonzo Musyoka in the same way Rift Valley relies on DP William Ruto and Nyanza on Cord strongman Raila Odinga.
This is despite attempts by Chap Chap movement leader Alfred Mutua, Mwingi Central MP Joe Mutambu and Machakos Town MP Victor Munyaka hauling a different political canon in the Ukambani direction.
The Ukambani leadership championing the Uhuru visit are trying to use Kalonzo as a human political shield in their attempt to catch the eye of the President.
They do so by dropping the 2013 voting patterns on the Jubilee table in an attempt to depict how hard it is to sell the Preident’s agenda in Ukambani.
Political analysts say the political statistics are being used as a carrot to bargain for more personal and community resources, despite the many denials emanating from the organisers.
Presidential handlers are said to be privy to the game plan being mooted by the warring factions. It is for this reason that the Presidency used the provincial administration to mobilise the grassroots for the successful meeting held in early May.
The decision was informed by precendences as witnessed during an earlier visit by Meru delegates.It is alleged that some leaders took off with fare and lunch allowances for other groups, triggering a near pandemonium in the delegation.
Other major players in the presidential visit organisation include URP secretary general Fred Muteti from Makueni, Health CS Cleopa Mailu, Kitui businessman Kennedy Ngumbau and Ukambani professionals.