President’s party on the deathbed

The Standard | President’s party on the deathbed

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By GAKUU MATHENGE

President Kibaki’s Party of National Unity (PNU) has been cannibalised to the bone, and it is just a matter of time before it joins other moribund political outfits.

Former supporters and senior officials are fleeing from the party like a burning house, while chairman

President Kibaki with Energy Minister Kiraitu Murungi at a past function. [PICTURE: FILE/STANDARD]

and Internal Security Minister, Prof George Saitoti, who fought so hard in 2009 for the position, looks on as if nothing is amiss.

"The party has never met to discuss any matter of political or national importance. People stopped paying contributions and as far as am concerned, no MP pays any remittances to the PNU. If it meets, it is under PNU Alliance that has many members with diverse interests" Deputy Treasurer and assistant Minister, Nderitu Muriithi said in an interview.

While President Kibaki has largely assumed a laid-back demeanour, giving mundane party activities a wide berth, his heir apparent, Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka has been duelling with Kibaki’s lieutenants for supremacy.

The VP seems to have given up on the PNU fraternity ever getting its act together, or Kibaki ever endorsing anyone, and has lately rolled out a national outreach programme with all the hallmarks of a serious presidential campaign.

The other key figure — Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta — feels he does most of the dirty work, funding PNU political activities like by-elections and using his clout, image and proximity to State House to advance PNU interests, but getting little credit for it.

Kitutu Masaba by-election

The just concluded by-election in Kitutu Masaba and two civic by-elections in Nyeri County exposed the fractious faÁade that is PNU and leaders say things will only get worse if urgent action is not taken.

Besides lacklustre performance inside Parliament despite obvious advantages in numbers — boosted by ODM rebels gravitating around Eldoret North MP William Ruto — the centre can no longer hold.

"We did not know what we got ourselves into, jumping to the PNU side. PNU MPs, especially from central Kenya, are disunited and disinterested in nearly all political projects or challenges that comes up. They rarely attend committee meetings in Parliament where critical decisions are made. We lose on many fronts to ODM not because of lack of numbers but this lethargy. If Uhuru does not show interest in something, nobody bothers even when the implications are obvious," the vocal Nominated MP Amina Abdalla says.

In Kitutu Masaba, it was Kalonzo, Uhuru and Ruto who campaigned for PNU candidate Walter Nyambati. Saitoti did not feature in the campaigns.

Mr Nyambati won with 11,075 votes against ODM’s Mr Timothy Bosire’s (8,991) and Kenya National Congress’s Mr Mose Shadrack’s (7,938). KNC is associated with Planning Assistant Minister and Gatanga MP Peter Kenneth.

"Where Uhuru is not personally involved, both inside and outside Parliament, things always go awry in PNU. The party chairman does not invest in the party but wants to take credit of achievements. Party MPs are split between those loyal to Kalonzo and those loyal to Uhuru, with hardly any showing loyalty to Saitoti," an official who didn’t wish to be named says.

Chickens are finally coming home to roost, since the dramatic walk out on PNU by Gichugu MP and Narc-K leader Martha Karua in 2009, followed by Kenneth, who is busy building his KNC party.

Ruling party Kanu

His candidates in the Kitutu Masaba and Juja by-elections gave a respectable account of themselves despite not winning.

Assistant Minister and Laikipia East MP Mwangi Kiunjuri and former Mathira MP Nderitu Gachagua, have since launched their own outfit, the GNU, thus adding to the brigade of splinter groups that are bleeding PNU to a slow political death.

The predicament of PNU is a throw back to what happened to former ruling party, Kanu, in the lead up to 2002 General Election.

The latest splinter group to break away from PNU is United Democratic Forum Party (UDFP) that features top PNU officials among them Assistant Minister and Laikipia West MP Nderitu Mureithi (Deputy Treasurer), Deputy Chief Whip and Ndaragwa MP Jeremiah Kioni, Vice Chairman and Secretary for Legal Affairs, Mr George Nyamweya (Nominated MP), among others.

When PNU-leaning CIOC Chairman Mohamed Abdikadir Mohamed, and Isiolo South MP Abdul Bahari, attended a UDFP meeting in Naivasha last week, alarm bells went off that PNU was being deserted.

PNU is in alliance with Kalonzo’s Wiper party and Uhuru’s Kanu.

In the alliance’s National Executive Council, Kinangop MP David Ngugi represents a plethora of small parties that call themselves the Union of Parties. This refers to DP, Safina, Mazingira and others.

Regardless of Kibaki being a signatory to the Grand Coalition government with ODM, PNU has splintered itself into disintegration, like happened to the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc).

"PNU’s biggest challenge is lack of strong leadership, a centre of gravity. In fact, whatever is left of it is credited to Kiraitu Murungi, who has been the coordinator and glue that has held it together. One reason he plays that role effectively is he has no presidential ambitions like the top three, who are rivals," said Ngugi.

Ngugi adds that matters are made worse by a weak party Whip’s office, which lacks strong backing at the leadership level to do an effective job.

"We have a weak Party Whip (Kangundo MP Johnstone Muthama) and Deputy Whip (Kioni), both of whom were appointed at night with no process or legitimacy after former Whip, former Juja MP George Thuo, was felled in a by-election. They have never found a way to work together," Ngugi says.

Few are surprised PNU has ended up that way. Kibaki has kept a low profile, never breaking a sweat over party politics. Kalonzo and Uhuru have lately been busy fighting for the spoils and whatever is left of the original PNU, with the VP rebranding his party, and Uhuru supporters behind newly minted UDFP.

GNU gave PNU a run for its money in recent civic by-elections, winning Ngorano ward by-election in Nyeri County despite heavy investment in financial resources and time from PNU.

Unquestioning loyalty

In the recent Kamukunji by-election, the GNU-sponsored councillor Muthoni Kihara ran against PNU candidate Hassan Yusuf, a factor that caused considerable annoyance in the PNU ranks that expected unquestioning ‘loyalty’ from Kiunjuri and Gachagua.

In the Nyeri civic by-elections, it is Safina MP for Mathira Ephraim Maina and not PNU minister and MP for Nyeri Town, Esther Murugi, who provided a front for the party against a spirited challenge by the GNU forces led by Kiunjuri and Gachagua.

During the by-election campaigns, it emerged the GNU group had used the Interim Independent Electoral Commission to conduct nominations for their candidates.

PNU handpicked its candidates ending up with two pensioners — Mr Zachary Kiragu (Karima, Othaya) and Mr Mwai Kirigu (Ngorano, Mathira). Both are retired teachers, who turned out to be a hard sell against the GNU pair of Maina Gichuki (Karima, Othaya) and Jackson Kibutu Thagana (Ngorano, Mathira), who were not only youthful but also enjoyed popular support after being nominated through an open process.

Had Kibaki not spent the last 48 hours in his Othaya constituency campaigning for the Karima ward PNU candidate, the GNU, in both contests, would have whitewashed his party. Karima beat his rival by only 200 votes.