By MICHAEL CHERAMBOS

The Kiambaa mini polls were closely monitored as the Jubilee Party and United Democratic Alliance (UDA) supremacy battle gains momentum. UDA’s John Wanjiku clinched the parliamentary seat while Jubilee’s Mung’ara Githinji bagged the Muguga Ward seat in a closely contested affair.

Yet even as buoyant DP William Ruto referred to the by-election as a friendly match, the Kiambaa by-elections were far from a friendly encounter.

Ruto indiscreetly took advantage of the polls to wage a direct political confrontation with his boss, Uhuru Kenyatta, in his backyard; keen to demonstrate that he has made momentous inroads in Mount Kenya.

So important was the by-election to the DP that he at one point camped in Kiambaa campaigning for his candidate.

Be it as it may, neither Uhuru nor his political prowess was on trial in Kiambaa. The president’s name was not on the ballot, and neither is he contesting in the 2022 presidential elections. He has publicly made it very clear, and emphasized on numerous occasions, that he will retire when his term is over.

Even if one were to make the case that Uhuru’s prowess was on trial, his party’s candidate losing in a poorly-run election campaign is not and cannot be a reflection or measure of what the whole region of Mt. Kenya thinks about the president.

All in all, the Kiambaa polls were used to fuel the premeditated push to force Uhuru into being a lame duck. The rebellion seen in Kiambaa is aimed at portraying the President as a regional kingpin with no influence, and thus a lame duck.

But it is Ruto who should actually be bothered by the outcome in the by-elections. When his nascent UDA party entered the Kiambaa contest, Ruto was determined to win the seat at all costs, the reasons he bought out Moses Kuria to withdraw his PEP candidate in favor of UDA party.

There was no doubt that the JP candidate, Kariri Njama, was the man to beat as he has a strong grassroot network and was no first timer in parliamentary contests. He has vied before and connects very well with the locals.

True to these words, UDA invested massive resources in campaigns while the Jubilee candidate got little support from the party until the last minute when JP luminaries joined him on the campaign trail.

After securing the narrowest of wins, Ruto must realize that he needs over 100 percent of the Mt Kenya vote to become the next President, yet it has been proven beyond doubt that he has increasingly lost grip on the region that made him DP.

While Ruto rebelled against Uhuru and campaigned for the 2022 presidency since 2018, it was telling that little, if any, effort by a handful of Jubilee politicians easily chipped away 50 percent of the hustler narrative he has been preaching.

[email protected], Nairobi