Uhuru looks to make up for 2002 defeat

Uhuru and Ruto during a joint rally in Nakuru’s Afraha Stadium yesterday.[PHOTO: KIBERA MBUGUA/STANDARD]

By Moses Njagih

After sealing a coalition deal with Eldoret North MP William Ruto, Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta looks set to make his second stab at the presidency after failing to impress in his first bid ten years ago.

f Uhuru eventually makes it to the ballot paper for the March 4 General Election — which appeared more on course yesterday — he will be seeking to make up for the resounding loss he suffered in 2002, when he lost to President Kibaki.

Then appearing more as a political novice, who was largely relying on the support of retired President Moi and drawing the inspiration from the fact that he was contesting on the independence party that had ruled the country for over four decades, Uhuru fell by the sides in his first attempt for the top job.

He was greatly outdone by the Narc wave that had swept the country, throwing its support behind Kibaki.

The irony of it was that the Narc flames had been fanned by a section of leaders who had left Kanu in protest after Moi hand-picked Uhuru as his successor, both in the hierarchy of Kanu and also as its presidential candidate.

Walkout

The massive walkout championed by the party’s Secretary General at the time, Raila Odinga and key leaders including former Vice-President George Saitoti and Kalonzo Musyoka, greatly weakened Kanu, dealing a blow to Uhuru’s first time chance.

In its campaigns Narc portrayed the Gatundu South MP then as “untried, untested and inexperienced” with his candidature introducing a new vocabulary to the Kenyan politics, when he was infamously referred top as Moi’s project.

His right-hand political comrade then, as it could happen once again, was Eldoret North MP William Ruto, with who he conceded defeat to Kibaki, even before the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) could announce the final tally of the votes.

Uhuru’s candidacy in 2002 appeared to have been hurriedly accelerated by former President Moi, who had gradually groomed him and introduced the hitherto unknown son of Kenya’s first president Jomo Kenyatta to the public limelight.

Only three years to the elections, Moi had fished Uhuru from public oblivion and named him the Kenya Tourism Board chairman, a position that placed him in the limelight as he worked with, among others, former Kanu power man Nicholas Biwott.

Flag bearer

In 2001, Moi sacrificed then power broker Mark Too and nominated Uhuru to Parliament, subsequently naming him Local Government Minister.

He also propelled him in Kanu’s hierarchy, making him one of the four Kanu Chairmen, before eventually handpicking him as the party’s flag bearer for the 2002 polls, and later becoming the party’s chairman.

But despite walking in the shadow of that loss in 2002, Uhuru has since emerged as a key political player in the country, assuming the de-facto position of Central Kenya political kingpin in the Kibaki succession battle.

Uhuru was key in securing Kibaki his second term in office in the bungled 2007 elections where he rallied his then Kanu supporters behind the President, against ODM’s Raila Odinga.

His appointment as Deputy Prime Minister in the coalition government further enhanced Uhuru’s political standing.

The National Alliance (TNA) party, the outfit he formed after quitting Kanu has emerged as the dominant party in Mt Kenya region, an area he perceives as crucial in propelling him to victory, especially working with Ruto, who is also viewed as wielding command of the greater Rift Valley.

Subsequent opinion polls have portrayed Uhuru as only trailing ODM presidential aspirant Raila Odinga by a small margin, with some even indicating that he could trounce the PM in the event of a run-off.