Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Eldoret North MP William Ruto and Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka have hatched a plan they hope will win one of them the presidency next year.
On Sunday, Ruto said they would hold joint presidential nominations and back the winner for the presidency in 2012.
"Uhuru and Kalonzo you are my friends, but next year we will compete for the presidential nomination ticket. If I win you should all support me, but if one of you gets more votes than me, then count on my support," Ruto said.
 |
From left: Eldoret North MP William Ruto, Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and VP Kalonzo Musyoka in Kericho.[PHOTO: VPPS AND SOLOMON TALAM/STANDARD] |
Other than the ICC and the 2012 General Election, the other factor drawing the three together is their longstanding rivalry with Prime Minister Raila Odinga. The installation of the newly elected Bishop of the Africa Gospel Church (AGC) Dr Robert Langat at Kericho Bible Highlands College provided the strange backdrop to the reuniting of what were once die-hard Kanu members and officials with their mentor, former President Daniel arap Moi, who warned his former protÈgÈs to tread carefully over the matter of the International Criminal Court (ICC), and its prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo.
Despite being a church ceremony, the event was rich in political symbolism and connotations in view of the emerging political alliance between Uhuru, Ruto and Kalonzo.
The ceremony that was presided over by AIC Presiding Bishop Silas Yego, Retired AGC moderator the Rev Jonah Cheseng’eny and retired Tanzania AIC archbishop the Rev Methuselah Nyangwaswa was attended by thousands of Christians across various denominations. Dismissing the clamour to have the country pull out of ICC, the Moi said the process should not be politicized.
Rome StatuteHe said Moreno-Ocampo was appointed to the post by member states that are party to the Rome Statute and asked the suspects to tread carefully over the matter.
"Do not politicise the ICC process. Ocampo was appointed by the world and you should slow down tread carefully," Moi said, but asked Christians to pray for the six suspects. Uhuru and Ruto are both on Moreno-Ocampo’s list of key suspects over the 2007-08 post-election violence that saw over a thousand people killed and more displaced from their land.
VP Kalonzo has been on a shuttle diplomacy in selected African capitals to drum up support for a local tribunal to convince the UN to defer the ICC cases.
Moi also rubbished calls to have the young generation take over power in the next polls, adding that everybody, regardless of age, has a right to vie for the presidency.
Dr Langat, who is the Kabarak University chaplain, replaces the late Dr Rev Joseph Rono, who died while serving as the church’s Bishop.
The gathering was a mixture of old and new. Others were Roads minister Franklin Bett, Information and Communication Minister Samuel Poghisio and his East Africa Co-operation counterpart Hellen Sambili. MPs Charles Keter, Isaac Ruto, Bejamin Langat and Kiema Kilonzo were also in attendance.
Formers MPs included Gideon Moi, who is Kanu National Vice Chairman, Nick Salat (Kanu’s Secretary General), Paul Sang, John Koech, UDM chairman Joseph Chirchir and other notable guests included Raymond Moi among others.
Nine years ago, Uhuru Kenyatta was endorsed by Kanu to vie for the presidency. At the time, Uhuru was Local Government Minister.
That decision split the Independence party down the middle, ending with its humbling defeat by the National Rainbow Coalition in the General Election.
In Kanu at the time were Eldoret North MP William Ruto and Kitui North MP Kalonzo Musyoka the party’s National Vice Chairman. Both were considered the political protÈgÈs of former President Daniel arap Moi. Kalonzo and an array of senior politicians, including Prof George Saitoti later ditched the party.
KKK allianceToday, the three are back touting the KKK (Kalenjin, Kikuyu, Kamba) alliance, and hinting at the formation of a new political outfit they will front to pick a single presidential candidate in next year’s elections.
On the ICC cases, Ruto and Uhuru said the matter would not frustrate their presidential ambitions alleging that their inclusion on the list of post-election violence suspects was politically motivated to block them from entering the race.
Uhuru challenged those who vied for the presidency in the 2007 General Election to tell Kenyans what caused the violence that left more than 1,333 people death and 350,000 displaced from their homes.
He said when he lost in the 2002 presidential elections, he went to Serena together with Ruto to concede defeat, and wondered why he was being implicated in the 2007 violence, yet he was not a candidate.
However, Kalonzo said he does not wish to be drawn into a blame game over the causes of the post-election violence. The VP said Kenya would be seeking the UN Security Council to have the case facing the six suspects named by ICC prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo deferred until the matter was ironed out amicably locally.
Kalonzo denied claims that Kenya was lobbying African states to pull out of the Rome statue, saying the issue has not been ratified by the cabinet as claimed in the media.
"Although the Bill that seeks to pull Kenyan out of ICC was a private members Bill, the Cabinet is yet to sit and ratify it," He said.
But Kalonzo said if the UN ignores Kenya’s plea, the country would raise the issue with African Head of States summit in July this year to have the cases deferred.
Uhuru and Ruto sat next to each other at the main dais sandwiched between Kalonzo and the Roads Minister, Bett. The two were seen consulting as the ordination ceremony went on. They arrived together aboard a hired chopper, and landed at Kericho Golf Club, before making their way to the Bible College in a convoy of several vehicles.
Chaos suspectsLast month, Ocampo gave a strict conditionality to the six suspects contained in his famous list top six not to meet unless through their lawyers. Others named by Ocampo included former industrialization minister and Tinderet MP Henry Kosgey, Head of Civil Service and Secretary to the Cabinet Francis Mathaura, Postmaster-General and former Police Commissioner Maj Gen (rtd) Hussein Ali, and Kass FM radio presenter Joshua Sang.
On New Year’s Eve, the Eldoret North MP and Sang attended a church service together at Eldoret ASK show ground during prayers to usher in the New Year (2011).
On Sunday, Uhuru and Ruto were jovial and chatted excitedly, occasionally breaking into laughter during the ceremony held at the college’s sports ground.
Kalonzo joined the team an hour later, and went straight to main dais where he shook hands with former President Moi and his Cabinet colleagues, before taking his seat next to Moi.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment