The glitzy launch of Azimio-One Kenya Coalition Party’s manifesto showed how presidential election candidates recognise refined political imagery as a winning strategy.

Other than raucous campaign political rallies before thousands of supporters, manifestos are critical weapons in contenders’ quest to win voters’ hearts.

While the majority of voters have made up their minds on who they will vote for based on political party affiliation and ethnicity, a sizeable number are closely monitoring what is on offer.

Azimio’s strategists must have decided to launch their fine-tuned 10-point agenda by staging a glittering event at Nyayo Stadium, well aware that opinion polls are indicating a closely fought race.

Surveys show there is a significant percentage (15-20 per cent) of undecided voters more likely to be persuaded by manifestos’ contents, rather than sweeping statements and propaganda dominating campaign rallies.

Azimio’s think tank went on the political imagery offensive with the manifesto launch, buoyed by latest polls showing its leader Raila Odinga surging ahead of Deputy President (DP) William Ruto.

The nomination of Martha Karua as Raila’s running mate must have blown some wind behind the sail of Azimio’s dhow, while that of Rigathi Gachagua as Ruto’s nominee somehow stymied his quest.

For long since he launched his well-oiled campaign machinery, almost right after President Uhuru Kenyatta was sworn in for his second term, Ruto has enjoyed the frontrunner status, beyond the Handshake and Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) milestones.

Until Karua’s entry into the presidential succession race matrix. More like the African fable of the hare and the tortoise. President Kenyatta alluded to this adage in Nakuru last December, saying leadership is not a sprint but a marathon, urging those who think they are young to slow down.

He said voters must not be told others are unwanted because they are old. “You’ll begin so fast but that old man who started after you will pass before the race ends.” Is this prediction coming true?

Karua has added impetus to Raila’s fifth stab for the presidency, in a way that must have puzzled even the DP’s own central command strategists and his closest political allies, much as they continue to put up a brave face and mount well-attended high-profile campaign rallies.

This election will be won or lost on the five key issues – the high cost of living, unemployment, food security, national cohesion and insecurity linked to the roots of poverty, ignorance and disease at independence. Azimio appears to have crafted its manifesto on these issues for its political imagery.

In the homestretch, focus has shifted to what manifestos hold more than the toxic mix of bitterness, insults, propaganda and rhetoric against opponents at political meetings.

Pronouncements of potentially socially and economically disruptive agenda not clearly articulated, do not augur well for political imagery, impressive PR notwithstanding.

By delaying launching its manifesto and instead sustaining verbal salvos at Raila and President Kenyatta’s government, the Kenya Kwanza coalition may have inadvertently played into their experienced opponents’ hands.

Azimio messages its political image on a platform of tolerance and national cohesion, social justice and economic revival. Its manifesto premised on stability and gladly embedded in the advantage of proffered successes of the Kenyatta legacy while distancing itself from its shortcomings.

It will be hard for Ruto to wean the achievements of this legacy into Kenya Kwanza’s manifesto. But he will certainly shoulder the baggage of its flaws.

—The writer is a veteran journalist who comments on political and justice affairs