Every election cycle, politicians splash billions of shillings in their campaigns as they traverse different regions in search of the elusive votes. Presidential aspirants are always the biggest spenders followed by gubernatorial and senatorial hopefuls.
From hiring helicopters to fuel guzzlers, sound systems, to contracting performing artists and cash incentives to woo the masses, the politicians go out of their ways to endear themselves to the constituents.
The August 9 General Election will be the most contested poll in the country's history, with several aspirants already positioning themselves to take over from President Uhuru Kenyatta when he retires. Among those eyeing the country's top job is Deputy President William Ruto of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).
The two, who are seen as the top contenders, are planning, strategising and executing innovative moves to counter each other's dominance and influence across the country.
Each aspirant has a carefully selected and assembled Presidential Campaigns Secretariat that is mandated to oversee the whole campaign. Before delving into the structures of each, here is the composition of the top two.
DP Ruto
The second-in-command's secretariat is composed of top leaders including Omingo Magara who is the UDA’s national treasurer, Karisa Munyika is the national organising secretary, Seth Panyako is the deputy chairperson in charge of programmes and Nicholas Marete is the deputy chairperson in charge of strategy.
Kirwa Rono is the deputy chairperson in charge of operations, while Mohamed Sahal is the deputy secretary general in charge of operations. Former Raila Odinga presidential campaign strategist Eliud Owalo is the deputy secretary general in charge of strategy, while Daniel ole Sambu is deputy secretary general in charge of programmes.
In the communications team, Dennis Itumbi is the public communications and digital strategist, Emmanuel Talam the director of communication in the Office of the Deputy President, former Citizen TV anchor Hussein Mohamed the head of communications in the William Ruto Presidential Campaign Secretariat, and Wanjohi Githae the head of communications at UDA.
Other positions include policy and strategy and legal affairs.
Raila Odinga
The former Prime Minister, who doubles up as the Africa Union High Representative for Infrastructure Development, has assembled a powerful team comprising of Laikipia Governor Ndiritu Murithi as the chairperson, Elizabeth Meyo as CEO of the Raila Odinga Presidential Campaign Secretariat.
Others are Governors Lee Kinyanjui (Nakuru), James Ongwae (Kisii), Wycliffe Oparanya (Kakamega) and Hassan Joho (Mombasa), anti-graft crusader John Githongo and Suna East Member of Parliament, Junet Mohamed.
Both teams comprise proven leaders in governance and strategy and a mixture of technocrats and politicians.
Other members
Working with both teams are campaign managers, activists, consultants, speechwriters, schedulers, fashion artists, personal doctors and health advisors, volunteers and brand managers.
The lead campaign manager answers directly to the chair of the secretariat and at times the aspirants themselves.
He or she implements and oversees the strategic plan on how to get their aspirant into State House. The manager also crafts budget and sponsorships and manages the core team, alongside crafting public relations strategies, crisis management and image repair.
Consultants include media personnel tasked with media advocacy, pollsters, and researchers.
Volunteers also play a huge role in the campaigns as they are foot soldiers and are tasked with recruiting members, pushing agenda in the grassroots and mobilising followers to attend rallies and register as voters.
The majority of campaign teams are even broken down to handle various tasks in counties, constituencies and wards.
Department and roles are crafted in line with the aspirant's vision.
Techniques
Communication is key, having a mission, vision and plan is essential too.
Through foot soldiers, the team personally contacts voters through canvassing, phone calls and organising rallies. They also conduct door-to-door campaigns to woo voters.
The secretariat maps areas into zones, from green (friendly/strongholds), grey (swing areas) and red (opponents strongholds).
Ruto and Raila’s teams for this case, oversee polls, social media management, press relations and advertising, media advocacy and agenda-setting.
The crucial task is always maintaining the campaign message and vision, creating counter-tactics against opponents, issuing press releases, advertisements and phone scripts.
They also work hand-in-hand with IT members to create websites and manage social media accounts. The team also buys and books media and trains the aspirants on media appearances.
Finance teams rally sponsors, raise funds, facilitate and monitor the budget. Some members have sit-down dinners with local and foreign firms and billionaires to raise money, mostly with the promise of kickbacks or taking care of the interest of these said parties once they get into power.
Kickbacks are in the form of tax incentives, tenders, state protection, among others.
The legal department protects the aspirant and any other campaign member from litigation, ensure compliance with the law and monitor all financial activities to stay on track from money-launders and tax evasions that may injure the campaign.
They are also part of the team that creates the manifesto, alongside researchers and all other experts.
Other strategies included by the secretariats include commercial advertising and propaganda.
Herein, political analysts, social media influencers and bloggers can be contracted.
