By Nation Team newsdesk@ke.nationmedia.comPosted Tuesday, November 23 2010 at 22:00
In Summary
- Kibaki backers agree to hold joint primary to pick presidential candidate for 2012
The Party of National Unity plan for the Kibaki succession has been revealed by a group of the President’s supporters.
Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka and Internal Security Minister George Saitoti, all presumed presidential candidates, will fight it out for the ticket of the pro-Kibaki party.
The candidate chosen is expected to face off with the Orange Democratic Movement, led by Prime Minister Raila Odinga, in the presidential election now two years away.
Mr Kibaki has served two terms and is ineligible for re-election. Mr Kenyatta of Kanu, PNU’s Prof Saitoti and Mr Musyoka of ODM-K have agreed to compete against each other in a primary election to pick the presidential torchbearer.
The plan was revealed by Mr Kenyatta on Monday when he hosted 600 councillors from Central Kenya and parts of the Rift Valley in his rural home in Ichaweri Village, Gatundu.
According to those who attended the meeting, which was closed to the media, Mr Kenyatta, also the Finance minister, declared that he would go for the presidency through a competitive nomination process in which he will face Mr Musyoka and Prof Saitoti.
The candidate will be picked by delegates drawn from their parties who will have come together under the PNU umbrella.
On Tuesday, Energy minister Kiraitu Murungi, the PNU secretary-general and the driver of the plan, said the three leaders held talks and agreed to hold joint nominations and field one candidate.
“We have met them (VP Musyoka, Mr Kenyatta and Prof Saitoti) and from the PNU side we think the only way for us is to have one candidate who will fight it out with others from other parties,” he said.
Mr Murungi said they arrived at the strategy in a bid to overcome the problems their party faced before and after the December 2007 elections. He said they no longer wanted to become victims “of confusion and paralysis” which takes ages to sort out, giving advantage to their competitors.
“We cannot continue with this confusion that has really affected us. The paralysis has cost us and we want to solve it once and for all,” he said.
Perhaps, he was referring to the wrangles among PNU affiliate parties, which delayed decision-making and unity in Parliament.
While Narc Kenya chaired by Gichugu MP Martha Karua has outrightly delinked itself from the PNU coalition, other parties such as Ford Kenya, Democratic Party and Safina are rebuilding themselves in readiness to form new alliances come the next elections.
On Tuesday, Mr Murungi extended the olive branch to the dissenting parties and urged them to present their candidates for the nomination process that will take place before the elections.
“We welcome Martha Karua, Peter Kenneth and anybody else from the PNU coalition to join the race for the flag bearer. All of them will be given an equal chance and we urge the public to choose the best,” he said.
Contacted, Mr Musyoka’s office referred the Daily Nation to Kangundo MP Johnston Muthama who confirmed the pact.
“It is not beneficial if Uhuru, Saitoti, Kalonzo or (deputy Prime Minister Musalia) Mudavadi go it alone. We are encouraging them to come together,” he said.
Mr Murungi spoke on behalf of Prof Saitoti, who is attending an Intergovernment Authority on Development (Igad) meeting in Ethiopia. This means that the People’s Progressive Movement (PPM), which the PNU bigwigs announced earlier in the year in Naivasha with much gusto was a still-born and has quickly been buried.
Those who attended the meeting in Gatundu said the revelation by Mr Kenyatta was a climax of a series of meetings and consultations that leaders have been holding towards a single presidential candidate, come 2012.
The Gatundu sources said Mr Kenyatta, who is also the Kanu national chairman, hosted the councillors, mainly from Central Kenya and the Kikuyu Diaspora, following growing concerns about his silence on whether he is interested in running for the country’s top job.
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