1,450 road show vehicles + 20 aircrafts for campaigns

Inside the final push for March 4 victory

By Vitalis Kimutai

KENYA: As many as 20 aircrafts have been acquired by four campaign teams for an unprecedented race to cover as much ground as possible in the remaining 29 days.

Hundreds of branded SUVs have also been deployed to ferry staff, equipment and materials from campaign to campaign in what is billed as one of the most expensive elections.

The push to win the presidency at any cost drew criticism yesterday from a lobbyist who said the bulk of campaign materials originated from China in spite of the candidates campaigning on platform of creating jobs locally.

“The campaign materials, including posters, T-shirts, caps, shirts, and scarf’s are sourced from China by presidential candidates,” said Tom Aosa, the national chairman of the community-based organisations.

“If they are talking of turning around the economy, why have they not supported local entrepreneurs by contracting them to print the materials.”

Campaign secretariats are abuzz with hundreds of workers, including think tanks, fundraisers and volunteers, working overdrive to ensure their candidate becomes Kenya’s Fourth President.

Teams are competing to outpace rivals in fundraising from various sources, including large and small donors. The fund haul is not clear because Parliament failed to pass Campaign Financing Bill, which regulates campaign financing and requires disclosure.

They have also hired reputable local and foreign public relations firms to manage the images of the candidates and most teams are set with advertisement, which will be rolled out in the coming days.

 Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) of Prime Minister Raila Odinga has hired and branded four helicopters and two fixed-wing aircraft to move the candidate and his entourage.

CORD has also bought 135 four-wheel drive vehicles, 47 of which would be supplied to the 47 county co-ordinators, while the rest will be at the disposal of campaign headquarters and hardship constituencies. Presidential candidate Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee Alliance has deployed six helicopters and four 10-seater fixed wing planes to ferry the team. Also the team has released 47 Land Rovers to county co-ordinators and hundreds of other four-wheel drive vehicles are at their disposal.

Jubilee has also hired 1,450 road show vehicles, five for each of the 290 constituencies.

At the presidential campaign secretariat, there are 120 experts in various fields, including politics, communication, finance, legal, and economics. Presidential candidate Musalia Mudavadi’s Amani Coalition team has five helicopters and one fixed-wing aircraft.

The team also has a fleet of vehicles for use by teams from partner parties, including United Democratic Forum (UDF), Kanu, and New Ford- Kenya. Some vehicles are leased, while others are donations from well wishers. Kenya National Congress presidential candidate Peter Kenneth has a chopper branded with the party green and white colours at his disposal.

Kenneth’s campaign headquarters are at Mayfair Centre in Upper Hill, Nairobi, where various committees are at work. A reputable public relations firm is managing the image of the Eagle coalition candidate.

Kenneth’s team has a leased helicopter, two ad-trucks, a branded
bus, and 10 four-wheel drive vehicles for county campaigns.

Others in the race are Narc-Kenya’s presidential candidate Martha Karua, James ole Kiyiapi (RBK), Paul Muite (Safina), and Mohamed Mohamed Dida.

Campaign teams have also erected billboards and printed millions of campaign materials, including T-shirts, caps, posters, scarfs, and shirts as a marketing strategy.
CORD

“The four helicopters have been leased and branded. They will from
this weekend be used to ferry the PM and his team to a series of
rallies across the country,” said a source at the PM’s campaign secretariat.

Sources said Raila, his running mate Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, and Trade Minister Moses Wetangula have each been allocated a chopper. Another is dedicated for support teams.

A total of 135 four-wheel vehicles, including Land Rovers, Toyota Land
Cruisers, pick-up, motorcycles, and ad-trucks have also been hired by CORD, with others donated by well- wishers. Raila and Kalonzo have since merged their presidential campaign secretariats. The presidential campaign secretariat is based in Nairobi’s Upper Hill. 

Team leaders are Eliud Owalo and Andrew Mwavua, who previously headed Musyoka’s campaign team. CORD also has VP’s advisory team based in Lavington, which is chaired by former Permanent Secretary Mutuma Kathurima, who is also a former ambassador to Germany.

Sports Minister Ababu Namwamba and former Yatta MP Charles Kilonzo are co-chairs of the CORD Effect team, formerly ODM Reloaded.

Jubilee

Uhuru and his running team, William Ruto, have a campaign team that has state-of-the-art facilities with a team of professionals as managers. “We have four 10-seater fixed-wing planes, and six helicopters that
have been leased for the next one month and branded with TNA and URP colours for the UhuRuto team,” said a source at the presidential
campaign secretariat.

The presidential campaign secretariat has 120 experts.

“There are three speech writers, 50 officers conducting daily opinion polls, and 30 people deployed in every constituency as pollsters,” another source not authorised to speak to
the Press said.

Jubilee also has hired 1,450 road show equipment, five for each of the
290 constituencies for the entire campaign period.

“There are 14 video links for teleconferences, and three audio-vans
with live links,” said the source. The Jubilee presidential campaign secretariat offices are in Lavington, while the running mate’s headquarters is along Muchai Drive, off Ngong Road. The joint political office is in Cianda House, Koinange Street, Nairobi.

Eagle

Kenneth has merged secretariats with POA party leader Raphael Tuju.
Ronald Osumba, Kenneth’s presidential running mate, said the team does not have lobby groups, but instead chose to focus on volunteers to
conduct the campaigns.

“In the PK 2013 secretariat, we have a number of youthful professionals dealing with finances, political affairs, information and communication technology, strategy, and policy among others,” he said.

The team, he added, has 7,000 active volunteers supported by the secretariat and another cluster of 58,000
volunteers who do not require any support.