Sunday, January 29, 2012

I am firmly in the State House race, says Saitoti



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By BOB ODALO bodalo@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Saturday, January 28  2012 at  21:48
Party of National Unity (PNU) chairman, Prof George Saitoti, vowed on Saturday that his name will be on the ballot in the forthcoming presidential elections irrespective of who the much-touted PNU Alliance comes up with.
“I will vie for the presidency. I have decided and there is no turning back. This time I have decided.
“Before I lift my leg, I calculate my movement. I have measured everything, and I am rightfully in the box; let those with ears hear me now,” Prof Saitoti, who stressed that he was not a tribal leader, said.
“People have spent time speculating about my ethnicity; some say I am Kikuyu, others call me a Maasai, but I laugh off all these guesses by telling speculators that I am a Kenyan representing a cosmopolitan constituency,” he said.
And to avoid any doubt, the Saitoti-led PNU now wants the PNU Alliance party stopped from using the “PNU” tag.
“We don’t want confusion in PNU, and we are asking those still clinging to using the tag to embrace something like the Alliance Party of Kenya,” former Sports minister Maina Kamanda said.
The call came on Saturday during the party’s delegates meeting for Lower Eastern at the St Joseph Pastoral Centre in Machakos town that was attended by leaders from Machakos, Kitui and Mwingi counties.
Delegates set the mood by challenging the party’s top leaders, who included Prof Saitoti and national organising secretary Kamanda, to clarify whether they belonged to the PNU or the PNU Alliance.
Fits the bill
Mr Kamanda clarified that they had nothing to do with the PNU Alliance. “PNU is going to field its presidential candidate and as far as we are concerned the person who fits the bill is Prof Saitoti.”
The former Starehe MP said there was a scheme to derail PNU under Prof Saitoti.
“We know of their machinations, but those out to derail PNU are in for a very big shock,” Mr Kamanda declared.
He urged the minister for Energy, Mr Kiraitu Murungi, to come clean on his real intentions within the PNU.
The PNU director of operations, Mr Jasper Nyamboga, said those trying to bring discomfort within the PNU were scared of facing Prof Saitoti.
PNU Machakos county chairman Alphonce Musyoki said Ukambani region was ready to back a Saitoti presidency.
He said Kenya has no time for a tribal president.

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