Power rifts undermine unity of G7

By Stephen Makabila and Vitalis Kimutai
Competing political interests within G7 is threatening its survival.
All is not well but in public, the group maintains it is a united alliance, tailored to win power in next year’s General Election.
Dujis MP Aden Dualle made it clear when he said: "One or two may fall on the sideways for failing to agree on terms but we are sure most of us will hold together."
Dualle said G-7 had two options, one being to form an alliance of parties before the polls and the second, to form a coalition and support one of their own after running separately and forcing a presidential run-off.
"First is to agree on three positions of President, deputy President and majority leader in Parliament and form a pre-election alliance of parties. Second is each of the key leaders to run for president independently, then the alliance will back whoever qualifies for the run-off," Dualle noted.
The G7 consists of Dualle, Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Eldoret North MP William Ruto, Saboti MP Eugene Wamalwa and former MP Omingo Magara.
Minister Ali Chirau Mwakwere, the Matuga MP, is said to have replaced fellow Cabinet colleague Najib Balala in the alliance, as Coast point man.
But even before consensus on which way to go, most of the G7 members, driven by pressure from supporters in their home regions on one hand and personal power ambition on the other hand, seem to be gravitating towards the second option.
Earlier, suggestions of a joint nomination process suggested by Uhuru during a rally in Nyeri weeks back, is dying out, with some members feeling their colleagues are concentrating on strengthening parties to be their 2012 vehicles instead of solidifying the alliance.
Kalonzo, who appeared to agree with Uhuru’s sentiments at the Nyeri rally, said without unity of purpose, the ride to State House would not be easy. "We need to remain united till the end. There is no need for Kalonzo to be the President without agreeing with my brothers. The country is more important than an individual," said Kalonzo.
Uhuru is associated with PNU and Kanu, Kalonzo with ODM-Kenya, Wamalwa with New Ford-Kenya, and Ruto with UDM. MPs allied to Ruto have said UDM had not made a decision on whether to go it alone.
MPs Isaac Ruto (Chepalungu), Charles Keter (Belgut) and Jackson Kiptanui (Keiyo South), however, admitted they were pre-occupied with popularising the party at the grassroots.
Kiptanui said: "We are thinking of going it alone in the next election and forming coalitions with others in the presidential re-run. But no decision has been arrived at so far as we still have a long way to go".
Ruto (Isaac) said: "We shall cross the bridge when we get to it, but for now, our main concern is setting up grassroots structures to adequately compete with established parties".
The Chepalungu MP said it was possible for youthful presidential candidates to hold together until the next elections.
"The so-called G7 is a creation of the media, but what is clear is that the youthful politicians will work together until the next polls. It is such a formidable force of focused leaders," added Ruto. UDM Youth Affairs Secretary Kibet Komen was, however plain, hinting the party was planning to go it alone.
"We are strengthening the party across the country and when it comes to coalitions, other parties will come to us as opposed to us going to join them," Komen said.
UDM plans to hold its elections beginning August 15.
A National Executive Council meeting held last week resolved the elections would go on despite a dispute registered at the Political Parties Tribunal by former chairman John Koech. UDM Secretary General Martin Kamwaro announced all was set for the polls. "We want to hold grassroots elections to popularise UDM," he added.
William Ruto has been popularising UDM through rallies and has concentrated in Coast Province this weekend. The MP has also hinted he would be seeking his running mate either from Coast or Meru region, an indication UDM may go it alone.
While Ruto and group will be heading down Coast, Wamalwa, who is the alliance point man in Western Province, will be hosting Uhuru and the New Ford-Kenya leader Soita Shitanda in Bungoma County, with rallies planned for Sirisia, Kimilili and Bumula. Kangundo MP Johnstone Muthama maintains the alliance will hold, but has also been slowly revamping ODM-Kenya, with plans under way to re-brand the party.
"Its emerging there may be three distinct groups within the G7, with each secretly scheming against the other," an operative well versed with G7 matters told The Standard on Sunday. Energy Minister Kiraitu Murungi and Agriculture Assistant Minister Kareke Mbiuki have warned members of the alliance against running for the presidency separately, saying they would lose to whoever will be the ODM flag-bearer.
Mutito MP Kiema Kilonzo, who originally was a Ruto ally in the ‘No’ campaigns during the referendum vote, declined to speak about G7.
Political scientist Frank Matanga says there are indications the alliance will not hold.
Head of Political Science at the University of Nairobi Adams Oloo says the G7 may not hold because it has no common purpose but a common enemy and that it is not driven by a shared ideology, policy or goals and objectives.