Snapshots

A panoramic view of News headlines since before elections 2002

In the last news overview, we left Hon. Raila and retired President Moi in bed together following the political marriage of their two parties, NDP and Kanu. One suspects that while there is a strong possibility that both were fooling each other, we now know who had the last laugh.

The short Kanu-NDP honeymoon effectively ended with President Moi pointing at Uhuru Kenyatta as his heir apparent. ‘Tinga’ Raila was having none of this. Stop behaving like a "campaign manager", he told the Kanu chairman. Raila’s courage undoubtedly gave other hitherto silent rebels and ambitious fellows a boost to come out strongly and indicate which side of the divide they stood. Long-time passionate supporter of Moi, Kamotho was among the first to reject what he termed "Project Uhuru", saying that it was destined for failure. Professor George Saitoti, William Ole Ntimama, Musalia Mudavadi, Kalonzo Musyoka and Katana Ngala followed and publicly voiced their rebellion against undemocratic Moi. The Kanu rebels refused to go to Kasarani for the Kanu Presidential elections, alleging that the nomination process was a rubber stamp intimidation exercise further illustrated by Kanu’s rejection of secret balloting.

The President’s men got busy. The strategy was to divide and isolate the rebels one by one. It should seem that it was a Raila only rebellion. Pressure, and possibly intimidation, was applied. First to repent was Katana Ngala, followed by Musalia Mudavadi. They would now support President Moi’s ‘wise choice’ of Uhuru Kenyatta, for the sake of national unity. The other Kanu rebels stuck to their guns.

With the Raila group separating from the Uhuru camp, concessions by the Kanu bridegroom were not enough to salvage the NDP-Kanu marriage. The former bedfellows became increasing vocal and abusive against each other. Moi started sacking the rebel ministers to prove his hardliner pro-Kenyatta stand. Vice President Saitoti fell end of October. To capture that defiant mood, Raila said Prof Saitoti’s sacking had strengthened the alliance, vowing: "Even if all of us in the alliance are relieved of our Cabinet positions we shall ensure that we reach Kasarani and vote against Uhuru," Sunday Nation, September 1, 2002. Divorce was inevitable, and it was not long before Raila, Kalonzo, Adhu Awiti, Moody Awori, William Ole Ntimama and other Kanu rebels resigned. David Sankori, Khaniri, Fred Gumo and Joseph Kamotho were sacked.

Allies were sought left, right, and center. Forming the National Alliance of Kenya, presidential contender Mwai Kibaki had managed to woo around 14 smaller political parties to throw their weight behind him. With the backing of Wamalwa and Charity Ngilu, the sizeable Luyha and Kamba voting blocks were added to his Central Kenya and Coast votes.

The Ford-People and Safina groups, led by Simeon Nyachae and Paul Muite respectively, spurned a NAK co-habitation and decided to go it just the two of them.

It was evident, though, that the Kanu rebels held the key to the general election victory. Whoever wanted the presidency must capture the very sizeable Kamba (Kalonzo) and Luo (Raila) votes, not to forget the Maasai and Kikuyu votes of Saitoti-Ntimama-Kamotho trio. As early as October 5, 2002, Kibaki could fairly confident say in public that a ‘deal’ was being worked with Kanu’s Rainbow Alliance.

Moi was still holding on to a vain hope that Kanu would emerge the final victor. By mid-October the President described the big split in the party as a walkout by the National Development Party "and a few wayward Kanu elements". The "real Kanu is now intact". Nonetheless, Moi held a secret meeting with the Rainbow foursome –Saitoti, Musyoka, Raila and Awori – offering an olive branch, on condition that they still support Uhuru. Needless to say, he was spurned.

The ex-Kanu men went shopping for a new bride. Discussions were held with the Nyachae Group. It seemed that the deal had been clinched, until Raila threw the "Kibaki anatosha" ("Kibaki is enough" (to rule/change/manage Kenya) ed.) bombshell at the massive Uhuru Park rally. Nyachae shouted ‘betrayal". Pundits however, pointed out that Nyachae failed to read the public mood that was clearly one of one opposition presidential candidate. The dowry price for the Raila group was in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding that detailed how the booty over a vanquished Kanu would be divided.

The Uhuru Park "Mzee Kibaki anatosha" declaration by Raila on October 14^th, 2003 in front of over 100,000 Kenyans were the vows signalling the single greatest political marriage in Kenya’s history. With those the National Alliance Rainbow Coalition (NARC) came into being. The Uhuru park crowds were ecstatic. The national mood was ecstatic. With the Rainbow Coalition politicians as DJs, "Yote yanawezekana bila Moi" (Everything is possible without Moi) and "We are Unbwogable" – a song extolling the virtues of courage and invincibility – became the new national hits.

Meanwhile Uhuru Kenyatta was accepting his nomination at Kasarani. But clearly, the Kanu group was scared stiff. It seemed that Moi’s tribal arithmetic had never envisaged a Luo (Raila) supporting a Kikuyu (Kibaki). With the Kamba, Luo, Luyha, Maasai and about 60% of the Kikuyu votes behind Kibaki, Moi’s game plan of the ‘small tribes’ ganging up against the ‘big’ tribes was stillborn.

On October 25, 2002, formal countdown to the General Election began with the dissolution of Parliament. All stops were pulled as the campaigners hit the trail.

To try and scuttle the Western Kenya vote, Moi named Musalia VP. When Musalia took the ‘flag’ to his home district, he became the first VP in Kenya to be stoned by constituents.

The campaign period was a sweet honeymoon with NARC transversing the breadth and width of Kenya. Everywhere they went the massive crowds were testament to the fact that their political messages were hitting home.

On elections day, December 27^th, 2002, approximately 5 million voters turned out to decide Kenya’s destiny and gave NARC a landslide victory. For the first time in Kenya’s history, a sitting Vice President was denied a parliamentary seat by his constituents and former Kanu-stars, Katana Ngala, Julius Sunkuli and David Murathe were ditched. After polling over 1.7 million votes more than his nearest rival, Kanu’s Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta, Mr Kibaki became Kenya’s new President. He managed to garner over 63% of the presidential vote in a total poll estimated at 4.8 million.

On December 30^th President Moi handed over power to Mwai Kibaki in front of an estimated crowd of over 150,000 people at Uhuru Park. "The era of road-side decisions and declarations is gone", President Kibaki said, promising to rejuvenate the economy, reform the judiciary, re-start the stalled constitutional review process, fight corruption and offer free education. By January 3, 2003, a new cabinet was in place.

The NARC government moved with speed and introduced universal primary education barely days after being sworn in. To the surprise of naysayers, this process took root despite the obvious logistical and financial constraints

To kick off the judicial reforms, a High Court Judge, Justice Ouch was summoned to appear before the anti-corruption police. Shortly thereafter he was charged. Approximately a month later he resigned. Next on target was the Chief Justice, Bernard Chunga. For his alleged role in the in-famous mwakenya trials of the 1980s, he was asked to resign. A judicial commission was set up to investigate his conduct but Chunga got the hint and tendered his resignation. A new chief justice – Evans Gicheru was appointed.

The move to fight corruption started with the parastatals. A number of prominent Kanu-allied personalities were either sent on forced leave to facilitate investigations, or simply resigned. Mr. Samuel Gichuru, the long serving and powerful KPTC managing director, were among former-untouchables who were shown the exit door.

It is now emerging that the Kanu regime tolerated and possibly encouraged massive corruption in practically every sphere of Kenya’s economy. The collapsed Euro – Bank is a case in point. This bank received more than Sh1.4 billion [$17.5 million] deposits from parastatals such as Kenyatta National Hospital, Kenya Sugar Authority, National Hospital Insurance Fund, and Kenya Postal Corporation. Nobody knows where these deposits went thereafter. This scandal led to the resignation of the Central Bank governor, Nahashon Nyagah. All the former heads of these parastatals have already been shown the door, and it is anticipated that more heads will roll.

The corruption of the Nairobi City Council came to light when Hon. Karisa Maitha insisted on a head count. It was discovered that the council had 4000 ghost workers, costing the council over KSHS 30 million per month. Who knows how long this scam had been going on? Council employees were caught, in the span of two days, stealing millions of council cash money. Who knows how long this has been going on?

All is not well, however, with the political marriage of NARC. There is evidence of growing discontent with the way government appointments are being conducted. From engaging Kanu era personalities to appointing personalities from the Mt Kenya region. Kibaki’s refined politics may not play very well with the rough and ready politicians, who are more used to Moi’s tactics of wheeling and dealing, divide and rule tactics. Kibaki is also seen as being aloof, perhaps because he does not encourage the usual State House visits by MPs that were the fodder of the Moi regime.

The following issues is predicted to continue to be the main areas of focus and challenge to the Kibaki government within the next one-year:

NARC unity. There is clearly an urgent need to bring all NARC MPs to heel if the government is to pass its critical parliamentary bills. The best way to do this is to dissolve all affiliate parties and form one party – NARC. Failure to do so will only prolong the political infighting.

Economy. The performance of the economy is closely tied to how quickly and effectively NARC can fight corruption and the misuse of government funds. The promise to provide 500,000 jobs per year is directly linked to how the economy performs. Early indications are that the economy is headed in the right direction. The government has had positive talks with the World Bank and IMF as well as other key bilateral donors such as the USA, Britain and Japan.

The war in Iraq, however, will have negative consequences for Kenya, affecting the oil/energy and tourism sectors.

Constitutional Reforms. Indications are that the stalled constitutional review process will be re-started sometime in April 2003 with the aim being to have a new constitution in place by June this year.

Corruption. The economic crimes bill is slotted for Parliamentary debate, though it has been tactically shelved for now. This bill will pave way for more investigations into economic crimes. Already, President Kibaki has appointed a commission to investigate the infamous Goldenberg scam that cost Kenyan over KSHS 60 billion. It is expected that finally, after 10 years of dilly-dallying with the case, it will be laid to rest with the culprits being named and charged accordingly.

Land Reforms. The Kanu regime orchestrated massive land scams, with public land being dished out illegally to Kanu loyalists. As the NARC government moves to bring sanity into the tumultuous land sector, expect fireworks. It has already been suggested that the government will nullify all title deeds in Kenya and start afresh.

Kanu: Commentators suggest that the last word as to the fate of Kanu is still to come. For all practical purposes, Uhuru Kenyatta has taken over as chairman of the party as the de jure chairman, Moi, is only seen in churches nowadays exhorting Kenyans to pray for President Kibaki.

Rebellion, however, is still brewing in Kanu, and Chris Okemo, one of the saner minds and senior members of Kanu has just resigned. A massive reorganization of Kanu – by design as well as by default, is in the offing. The question is – is Uhuru capable of transforming the party seen by some as having no backbone of his own?

Teachers’ Salaries. The issues of raising teacher’s salaries will undoubtedly occupy headlines once again, as KNUT agitates for what they see as their long delayed rights. The problem is that the new government has no money and already the budget deficit is over KSHS 8 billion, and growing. Compounded by the introduction of universal primary education, Professor Saitoti will find himself in between a hard place and a rock.

Government Reshuffles: More reshuffles in all government departments and institutions can be taken for granted. As the Kibaki government moves to rid itself of deadwood, more heads will roll. Also, strategic diplomatic appointments to major countries such as the USA, Britain, Germany and Japan are yet to be made.