THE EAGLE IS NOT FLYING

The Progressive Democratic Movement (PDM) appears to be wobbling only a week after it was launched at a much-hyped meeting in Naivasha attended by political bigwigs.

The key leaders of PNU affiliate parties who attended the Naivasha meeting included Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka (ODM-Kenya chairman), Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta (Kanu chairman) and Internal Security minister Prof George Saitoti (PNU chairman).

On Saturday, it began to emerge that there are fears in PNU that the new movement is likely to precipitate a battle for supremacy among the three leaders who are considered presidential hopefuls. Sources indicated that there is a feeling within the PNU leadership that a fallout over the stewardship of the new movement would be suicidal at a time when the coalition party is at war with ODM over issues of corruption in government and the national accord.

In Naivasha, where the formation of the new movement was announced, the leaders presented a united front, but yesterday is was clear that only Mr Musyoka and Mr Kiraitu Murungi remain enthusiastic about PDM. “PDM is about moving the country forward politically and economically. We want progress in political mobilisation devoid of negative ethnicity. It is about stabilising the country in order to achieve economic growth and social prosperity,” Mr Musyoka said on Saturday.

But even as he was speaking, DP and Kanu moved to distance themselves from PDM, dismissing it as unworkable and adding that it has the potential to divide PNU. However, Mr Murungi insisted that consultations that led to the creation of PDM have been going on since last August.

On Saturday, Kanu organising secretary Justin Muturi said joining a political grouping was a serious matter that can only be ratified by top party organs and endorsed by the rank and file. “According to the Political Parties Act, any member who joins another political movement is deemed to have defected. Similarly, joining PDM contradicts Kanu’s constitution,” he said.

He said most of the leaders who attended the Naivasha retreat were under the impression that the meeting was meant to craft a common front on the draft constitution. In his view, most of those who attended the meeting were ambushed with the idea of PDM. “I had been invited to attend the retreat.

“As a matter of fact, I had been slotted in to present two papers on the draft constitution. I decided not to attend at the last minute when I learnt the creation of a movement could be on the agenda,” Mr Muturi said in a telephone interview on Saturday. However, in a separate interview, Mr Murungi named Mr Muturi as a member of the PDM secretariat.

But Mr Muturi flatly denied being part of the PDM structure, saying Mr Murungi was desperately trying to drag everybody into the movement to give it some credibility. Mr Muturi said PDM was stillborn because it was created in boardroom with the help of some consultants of dubious political experience. He added that as currently proposed, PDM had no hope of getting support outside Central and Eastern provinces.

“This will be seen just as another Kamba and Kikuyu outfit,” Mr Muturi said. In his view, his party chairman attended the Naivasha meeting in his private capacity. Mr Kenyatta’s aides couldn’t be drawn into discussing his position on PDM, but it was understood that in Naivasha his contention was that a common front on the constitution should have been the only agenda for the retreat.

Instructively, Mr Kenyatta and Prof Saitoti have not mentioned PDM since Naivasha. Although he attended a function in Ol Kalao the following day, Prof Saitoti made no reference to PDM. Sources indicated that neither politician wanted to be seen as publicly opposing what is being marketed as an effort to bring PNU affiliates under one roof.

Elsewhere, DP secretary-general Chris Murungaru also rejected PDM, saying the party had no intention of ceding its powers to any other political organisation in the country, terming those associating them with PDM as being insincere.

He said their main objective at the moment was to market DP to Kenyans and they would meet grassroots leaders countrywide with an aim of strengthening and rebuilding the party. “We are aiming beyond 2012, and that’s why we want ours to be a strong outfit capable of competing with others.

‘‘We can only talk of an alliance after elections when we are sure which party shares the same interests and ideologies with us,” said Dr Murungaru. He criticised leaders who have a tendency to create political parties without any clear long-term objectives.