Kenya Opposition Unites
Oct 14, 2002
A DECADE of opposition disunity in Kenya was buried on Monday when top opposition parties resolved to unite and field one presidential candidate to face KANU’s Uhuru Kenyatta in the forthcoming general elections.
A DECADE of opposition disunity in Kenya was buried on Monday when top opposition parties resolved to unite and field one presidential candidate to face KANU’s Uhuru Kenyatta in the forthcoming general elections.
Reuben Olita and Agencies report from Nairobi that the National Rainbow Coalition was born to accommodate Rainbow Alliance, the People’s Coalition and National Alliance Party of Kenya after a historic meeting attended by 100,000 people at Uhuru Park.
The meeting, convened by Rainbow Alliance, was attended by top opposition leaders, Mwai Kibaki, Michael Wamalwa Kijana, Charity Ngilu and Simeon Nyachae.
“From today, we have swallowed our pride and joined NRC to remove Moi’s autocratic rule,†said Kibaki amid chants of yote yawezekana bila Moi (all is possible without Moi).
Raila Odinga, George Saitoti, Kalonzo Musyoka and Moody Awori of the Rainbow Alliance quit Kanu to join Liberal Democratic Party which subsequently formed rainbow coalition with Nyachae’s People’s Coalition.
The leaders said the grand coalition was a “permanent medicine†to ending Moi’s regime and his ‘Uhuru project.’
The leaders said their preference was not who should lead the NRC but working to ensure one of them was nominated to take Kenyatta head-on.
The move came soon after two more ministers from the Kenyan government stepped down, following four the previous day, as KANU faced its worst crisis since coming to power in 1963.
Tourism and information minister Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka and assistant education minister Orwa Ojode quit Moi’s government over the power struggle.
Despite the defections and the resignations, Moi remained defiantly confident about the strength of KANU.
“It (KANU) is not split. A few people from the National Development Party (NDP), who came to join us, decided to go back where they were. That does not suggest KANU is split. It is not,†he told journalists.
As thousands of Rainbow supporters gathered for a rally in central Nairobi, Kenyatta was unanimously acclaimed KANU’s presidential candidate at a sports stadium on the city’s outskirts.
He was the only candidate.
Kenyatta after his nomination declared, “Uhuru Kenyatta, more than anybody else, is worthy of your vote. I am, therefore, calling upon all of you to join me in ensuring that your party’s nominee wins the race to become the next president of this great republic and that KANU forms the next government.â€
On divisions in the party over his nomination, Kenyatta said “democracy is not synonymous with having your own way.â€
“At some point, we must allow someone to go his or her way,†he added before outlining KANU’s plans for the future.
Odinga said Moi would regret his move to pick Kenyatta at the expense of Saitoti, Musyoka or himself because KANU will now be an opposition party in Kenya for the first time in decades.
Ends
Reuben Olita and Agencies report from Nairobi that the National Rainbow Coalition was born to accommodate Rainbow Alliance, the People’s Coalition and National Alliance Party of Kenya after a historic meeting attended by 100,000 people at Uhuru Park.
The meeting, convened by Rainbow Alliance, was attended by top opposition leaders, Mwai Kibaki, Michael Wamalwa Kijana, Charity Ngilu and Simeon Nyachae.
“From today, we have swallowed our pride and joined NRC to remove Moi’s autocratic rule,†said Kibaki amid chants of yote yawezekana bila Moi (all is possible without Moi).
Raila Odinga, George Saitoti, Kalonzo Musyoka and Moody Awori of the Rainbow Alliance quit Kanu to join Liberal Democratic Party which subsequently formed rainbow coalition with Nyachae’s People’s Coalition.
The leaders said the grand coalition was a “permanent medicine†to ending Moi’s regime and his ‘Uhuru project.’
The leaders said their preference was not who should lead the NRC but working to ensure one of them was nominated to take Kenyatta head-on.
The move came soon after two more ministers from the Kenyan government stepped down, following four the previous day, as KANU faced its worst crisis since coming to power in 1963.
Tourism and information minister Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka and assistant education minister Orwa Ojode quit Moi’s government over the power struggle.
Despite the defections and the resignations, Moi remained defiantly confident about the strength of KANU.
“It (KANU) is not split. A few people from the National Development Party (NDP), who came to join us, decided to go back where they were. That does not suggest KANU is split. It is not,†he told journalists.
As thousands of Rainbow supporters gathered for a rally in central Nairobi, Kenyatta was unanimously acclaimed KANU’s presidential candidate at a sports stadium on the city’s outskirts.
He was the only candidate.
Kenyatta after his nomination declared, “Uhuru Kenyatta, more than anybody else, is worthy of your vote. I am, therefore, calling upon all of you to join me in ensuring that your party’s nominee wins the race to become the next president of this great republic and that KANU forms the next government.â€
On divisions in the party over his nomination, Kenyatta said “democracy is not synonymous with having your own way.â€
“At some point, we must allow someone to go his or her way,†he added before outlining KANU’s plans for the future.
Odinga said Moi would regret his move to pick Kenyatta at the expense of Saitoti, Musyoka or himself because KANU will now be an opposition party in Kenya for the first time in decades.
Ends