Uhuru dilemma as parties defy calls to dissolve

By Isaac Ongiri

The sustained push by Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta’s supporters to have parties formed by politicians in Mt Kenya region dissolved is causing political tension.

And since The National Alliance (TNA) was launched, the message has been clear: “You are either with us or you are with the enemy.”

The developments have caused panic and political pressure as leaders run from party to party, not knowing which direction to take.

Though leader of the Grand National Union (GNU) Mwangi Kiunjuri and his Alliance Party of Kenya colleague Kiraitu Murungi insist their presidential candidate is Uhuru, their gestures have done nothing to cool off pressure on them to fold up their parties and join TNA.

The tug of war is such that an acrimonious fight for survival involving the region’s three main parties is expected as fire-spitting leaders working for the kingpins of the outfits throw barbs at each other.

TNA launch

Two weeks ago, nearly all MPs from the region thronged the glamorous launch of TNA at the KICC, Nairobi, clad in red and white but a week later, some of them were again attending a delegates conference for the Alliance Party of Kenya.

Cabinet minister Beth Mugo, Assistant minister Ferdinand Waititu and MPs Ephraim Maina (Mathira) and Maina Kamau (Kandara) are among several MPs who attended both the TNA and the Alliance Party of Kenya meetings, living their supporters confused.

“Our position is clear. There will be only one party for all of us. We can’t afford to go to the elections as fragmented as we did last time because that way, we are going to have a minority Government,” said Assistant minister Lewis Nguyai.

The Kikuyu MP said the message has been dispatched to owners of small parties supporting the DPM to wind up and join TNA or perish.

Nguyai said though some of the party’s had expressed willingness to wind up, they have expressed fears over transparency in nominations.

“Some have expressed fears regarding nominations but we are asking them to come so that we build one grand party, which will grant them fair nomination,” Nguyai said.

Uhuru is in a drive to create one centre of power where he is the one calling the shots in Mt Kenya region but some leaders fear they could be bludgeoned out of politics the way former Kamukunji MP Simon Mbugua was hounded after he fell out with the DPM.

And those who have not made up their minds have only a few days left to do so because TNA, according to Nguyai, is assembling all party aspirants from all the counties interested in running for gubernatorial, senatorial and parliamentary seats in Nairobi in two weeks.

However, the position adopted by Uhuru’s allies has not gone down well with several leaders from the region. Last week, majority of Meru MPs attended the Alliance Party of Kenya’s delegates’ conference in solidarity with Mr Kiraitu.

Igembe North MP Ntoitha M’mithiaru, who is among several MPs who attended the meeting, said Meru leaders have no apologies to make over their decision to support APK. “We are in APK and we don’t regret it. If Uhuru feels we matter to him, he will come and talk to us. If they think we don’t then it is fine,” M’mithiaru said.

Though in public they portray an image of satisfaction with Uhuru as their candidate and struggle to hide the internal intrigues, The Standard On Sunday established some elements with the APK are bitter for having been duped to form a party for the DPM only for him to dump them with the idea.

“Uhuru told us to form this party for him and we did it, only to come up with TNA,” said an APK kingpin.

Last weekend at the APK delegates’ conference at Bomas of Kenya, leaders spoke of a memorandum signed by Uhuru, Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka and Internal Security Minister George Saitoti binding them to a joint nomination.

New party

It was Prof Saitoti who first fled from the arrangement even as Uhuru’s efforts to consolidate Kanu collapsed, forcing him to seek a new party. Kinangop MP David Ngugi said the pressure by Uhuru’s supporters to compel everybody to join his new party is in bad faith and could be grievous in the end.

“I am in the Alliance Party of Kenya and will not be pressured out of it. What the DPM is trying to do is to undermine democratic gains we have made as a country over the years,” he said.

Political analysts are warning Mt Kenya, a region unfamiliar with one party politics, could split, with several forces pulling in different directions. The political strength of former Mungiki leader Maina Njenga, though untested, cannot be underestimated as he continues to pull unbelievable crowds of sworn youths. Uhuru is competing for the same age group after it was indicated at the launch of his party that there was no room for pensioners.

Assistant Minister Nderitu Murithi, a nephew of President Kibaki, Othaya politician Mary Wambui and Ndaragua MP Jeremiah Kioni are associated with UDF while Kinjuri is firm in GNU. Gichugu MP Martha Karua is sticking with Narc Kenya while former Kabete MP Paul Muite is firmly in Safina. Assistant minister Peter Kenneth associates with the Kenya National Congress.

Though Uhuru’s backing in the region is itself untested, the DPM has been attracting fanatical support ever since the ICC named him as a suspect over alleged crimes against humanity.

But his critics are threatening to reignite the historical political differences that existed during his father Jomo Kenyatta’s times in order to clump on his rising popularity.