The Jubilee coalition's 2017 campaign, centered on the re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta with running mate William Ruto, emphasized continuity, economic development progress, and institutional stability. The campaign narrative stressed the infrastructure investments made during Kenyatta's first term, particularly the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) connecting Kenya's major cities, and promised accelerated development through a second presidential term. The Jubilee campaign positioned itself as the candidate of stability and progress, contrasting its record of accomplishment with the opposition's perceived propensity for institutional disruption and political contestation.
The Jubilee campaign's central messaging pillar was the SGR and broader infrastructure development achievements. The campaign emphasized that the SGR represented Kenya's most significant infrastructure investment in decades and that this development required political stability and continuity to realize its full economic potential. The campaign suggested that voting for Kenyatta would ensure completion of promised infrastructure projects and would prevent the disruption that a change in government might entail. This infrastructure-focused development narrative resonated with constituents invested in economic growth and employment generation.
The Jubilee campaign also mobilized around narratives of Kenyatta's competence and administrative capacity. The campaign characterized Kenyatta as a proven administrator capable of managing large-scale government operations and delivering public services. This competence framing contrasted with opposition characterizations of Raila as a perpetual opposition figure lacking executive experience and governing capacity. The Jubilee campaign suggested that Kenyatta's five-year track record of governance demonstrated his suitability for a second term, while the opposition offered only promises and rhetorical alternatives untested through experience.
The campaign also engaged regional and ethnic mobilization strategies, particularly in Central Kenya (Kikuyu regions) and the Rift Valley (Kalenjin regions). In these regions, the Jubilee ticket of Kenyatta and Ruto maintained strong base support reflecting regional and ethnic identification. The campaign mobilized these constituencies through rallies, local leader engagement, and community-level outreach. The regional concentration of Jubilee support meant that the campaign could achieve overwhelming margins in specific geographic areas while facing more competitive dynamics in opposition strongholds.
The Jubilee campaign faced several challenges during the 2017 cycle. Allegations of corruption within the government, including high-profile embezzlement scandals, created openings for opposition messaging regarding institutional decay and misgovernance. The Jubilee campaign responded by attributing corruption to individual officials rather than to systemic problems and by promising enhanced institutional accountability. However, the corruption allegations complicated the narrative of clean governance and institutional integrity.
Additionally, the ICC factor remained relevant to the 2017 campaign, though with less salience than in 2013. Both Kenyatta and Ruto continued facing potential ICC liability, though the Kenyatta case was actively being wound down during 2017. The campaign generally sought to minimize engagement with the ICC question, but opposition messaging continued to emphasize justice and accountability as campaign issues.
The Jubilee campaign deployed substantial financial resources for media, campaign events, and voter mobilization. The campaign conducted extensive television and radio advertising, organized large campaign rallies in major urban centers and regional strongholds, and invested in digital campaign infrastructure. The campaign's resource advantage relative to the opposition allowed for more extensive media presence and more sophisticated campaign organization.
The August 8 election results indicated that the Jubilee campaign had been successful in consolidating its regional base and in achieving a 54% victory margin. The campaign's infrastructure and development narrative had resonated sufficiently with voters to secure re-election despite institutional challenges and opposition critique. However, the Supreme Court's subsequent nullification of the results transformed the campaign victory into a disputed outcome that would require October re-run efforts.
For the October 26 re-run, the Jubilee campaign faced the challenge of sustaining voter mobilization in the context of opposition boycott. The campaign attempted to characterize the opposition boycott as anti-democratic and to mobilize supporters despite the absence of competitive electoral opposition. The October campaign achieved overwhelming victory margins but in the context of reduced overall turnout and opposition absence, raising questions about the legitimacy of the re-election result.
See Also
2017 Election 2017 Election August 8 Vote 2017 Election October Re-run 2017 Election Results 2017 Election NASA Coalition
Sources
- Kanyinga, Karuti. (2017). Jubilee Campaign and the 2017 Kenya Election. Institute for Development Studies.
- International Crisis Group. (2017). Kenya's 2017 Election: Campaign Dynamics and Political Crisis. Retrieved from https://www.crisisgroup.org/
- Muigai, Githu. (2017). Infrastructure and Electoral Politics in Kenya's 2017 Election. East African Law Review, 43(2), 156-173.