This archive report was first published on 29 September 2021.
September 29, 2021, marked a significant development in the 2022 presidential election as ODM leader Raila Odinga secured the backing of a team of Mount Kenya billionaires.
The endorsement comes as President Uhuru Kenyatta's administration searches for a successor, with the Mount Kenya region being a crucial voting bloc.
The billionaires, part of the GEMA group, have made it clear that they have been tasked by the President to present a name of a possible candidate who would protect their business interests when he retires in August next year.
As part of their demands, the oligarchs have pushed Odinga to accept their conditions, which include having their kinsmen occupy the office of the deputy president, top cabinet positions, and the Nairobi governorship.
Despite having failed to clinch the presidency in his four attempts, Odinga has already surrendered the Nairobi top seat to the Kikuyu nation as part of ODM's power games with Jubilee.
With the Kikuyu candidates failing in 2013 and 2017, President Kenyatta formed the Nairobi Metropolitan Services to run the country's capital, which was initially run by ODM's Evans Kidero and Mike Sonko from the Kamba community.
As a result, weak aspirants from the Mt. Kenya region eyeing the Nairobi governor's seat in next year's general elections have opted to take a low profile, pushing Odinga to hand them the slot through tribal arithmetic and political realignments at the national level.
Odinga now reasons that most of the city businesses are in the hands of Kikuyus and so they should control City Hall, the den of corruption and massive looting.
However, President Kenyatta's administration has been accused of impoverishing Kikuyus in Nairobi, where he planted Maj.Gen Mohamed Badi to run the show.
ODM believes that the Deputy President Dr. William Ruto's Kalenjin vote bloc is minimal in city politics, and a combination of Kikuyus, Luos, and a section of Luhyas, Kisiis, and Somalis will control Nairobi politics.
Though there are fears that a section of Kikuyus will back UDA for Nairobi governorship, Odinga still believes that a split among them will cost them since all Luos will vote in favor of a Kikuyu governor.
The GEMAs allied to Kenyatta and Odinga do not have a strong candidate, but Odinga plans to lock out Ruto in city politics by sharing parliamentary seats with 'Handshake' friendly parties.
Raila wants the rumored drug lord Harun Mwau or tycoon Peter Muthoka from the Kamba community as his target for Nairobi senatorial seat.
ODM leaders have shifted from their combative tactic for presidency and now prefer Kenya Chamber of Commerce president Richard Ngatia, Dennis Waweru, or Polycarp Igathe.
