By JOHN NJAGI jnjagi@ke.nationmedia.com AND MUGUMO MUNENE mmunene@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Saturday, October 2 2010 at 22:00
In Summary
VP says future elections will be about strong political alliances and calls for unity among like-minded leaders
Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka on Saturday said that PNU affiliate parties will clinch the presidency in 2012.
Mr Musyoka said that following talks with Kanu chairman Uhuru Kenyatta and PNU chairman George Saitoti, he was assured of a strong coalition that will see one of them fight for the presidency with a running mate of national stature.
“We have been meeting and have decided a strong alliance is the way to go. That is how we will clinch the presidency. And it will be wiper all the way,” he said, referring to a famous slogan that has come to symbolise his ODM-Kenya party.
Strong coalition
Mr Musyoka said future presidential election battles would be about the strongest alliances. He said PNU affiliates would be strengthening their parties to form a strong coalition for 2012.
“We have discussed with leaders of major coalition partners in PNU that they should strengthen their parties so that together we can form a strong coalition that will clinch the presidency,” he said.
He was speaking at a Nyeri hotel where he closed a three-day workshop for ODM-Kenya delegates from constituencies in Central Province.
The meeting resolved that the party should set up branches in all the 47 counties and find candidates to fill vacant posts to give the party greater visibility.
PNU stalwarts held private talks to seek a single presidential candidate and re-energise the party still smarting from a leadership crisis and by-election losses.
Mr Musyoka, Deputy Prime Minister Kenyatta and Internal Security minister Saitoti held a meeting at the Norfolk Hotel last Thursday to lay out plans for the future of the party.
Each was accompanied by key members of their parties, which coalesced to form the PNU coalition in 2007 to give President Kibaki a platform to seek re-election.
Sources familiar with the mid-morning “tea meeting” told the Sunday Nation that Mr Kenyatta was accompanied by Defence minister Yusuf Haji, Mr Musyoka by Defence assistant minister David Musila and acting Government Chief Whip Johnstone Muthama while Prof Saitoti brought along Cabinet colleagues Kiraitu Murungi and Chirau Ali Mwakwere.
“We discussed the possibility of a single presidential candidate and other ways of strengthening the party and all the leaders are totally committed,” Mr Murungi told the Sunday Nation on Friday.
The party chiefs seem to have been following up on a promise made by Mr Murungi at a separate interview last Sunday when he said that they were looking at re-energising their party.
“We are battling with the Registrar of Political Parties to release our funds.
“Once we get the cash, we will review our branch network and address leadership problems. We want to prepare to be a formidable force in 2012. We take the Juja and other by-elections as lessons along the way. We don’t see it as the end of the journey for us.”
He said that the new Constitution appears to provide for two major political parties and they were preparing to turn PNU into “a major political force”.
Prof Saitoti told journalists at KICC on Friday after the coalition’s parliamentary group meeting that he had held a breakfast meeting with Kanu chairman Kenyatta and ODM-Kenya leader Musyoka the previous day.
“We deliberated on how we are going to work as a team as far as PNU fraternity is concerned. Unity is crucial to implementing the new Constitution, and we are going to have periodical meetings,” Prof Saitoti said.
Strong team
For his part, Mr Kenyatta said: “We want to consolidate our position and be one solid team.”
Youth and Sports assistant minister Kabando wa Kabando said consultations were important, adding that this is what has been lacking in the party.
“Though even now insufficient, our position has compelled chieftains to stop in their tracks and listen. PNU is dry and critically in need of repair,” Mr Kabando said.
The Norfolk “tea meeting” points to the excitement that is developing in political circles over who will take the reins of power after President Kibaki retires in 2012.
Last month, Mr Kenyatta caused ripples after he led a family delegation to the home of Prime Minister Raila Odinga while the latter was recuperating following surgery on his head.
Details of the meeting have been tightly kept but it was not lost on observers that Mr Kenyatta was visiting a perennial political rival.
The Deputy PM has also been mentioned in association with Green Alliance, an entity formed in the wave of referendum campaigns for a new Constitution.
Triple loss
Fresh from a triple loss in the just-concluded by-elections, PNU has appeared all but rudderless as the partners pull in different directions.
But PNU leaders yesterday declared that the party was intact and that they will soon embark on a national campaign to strengthen it.
Party chairman Prof Saitoti and Organising Secretary Maina Kamanda said critics of PNU should be ignored, adding that claims of division and infighting were coming from the party’s enemies.
“We want to assure the PNU fraternity in the country that the party is firm and looking forward to a bright future,” said Prof Saitoti at a party hosted by Mr Kamanda at Wanderjoy Restaurant off Kiambu Road.
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