Moi’s entry into Kibaki’s campaign has added misery in the incumbent’s re-election bid
Oct 23, 2007
FOR President Mwai Kibaki, it will be a do-or-die battle as he seeks his second and final term. The deep-seated feeling in his main challenger, Raila Odinga of Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) that the incumbent never reciprocated the support he gave him in the 2002 elections, is still a bone of con
By Reuben Olita in Nairobi
FOR President Mwai Kibaki, it will be a do-or-die battle as he seeks his second and final term. The deep-seated feeling in his main challenger, Raila Odinga of Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) that the incumbent never reciprocated the support he gave him in the 2002 elections, is still a bone of contention between the two.
Claims also emerged that the government was behind the move to split ODM and support Odinga’s election as the party flag bearer in the hope that he would be easy to beat at the polls. However, it became apparent that Kibaki’s strategists miscalculated Odinga’s popularity.
The entry of the retired president Daniel Arap Moi into Kibaki’s campaign bandwagon has added more misery into the incumbent’s re-election bid. The former president who was expected to harvest the over 2.5 million votes from his Kalenjin community, has received massive resistance from ODM’s Pentagon member, William Ruto, winning the support of the community to Moi’s chagrin.
Vice-president Moody Awori was also expected to easily win votes from the Luhya community in Western Kenya, but the ODM tide has swept the region to an extent that winning the Funyula seat by the vice-president might even be a nightmare for the octogenarian. Former vice-president in Moi’s government Musalia Mudavadi and Odinga’s running mate has taken control of the region like thunder.
The ODM wave has also not spared the Muslim community; majority of whom have thrown their weight behind Odinga over claims that Kibaki’s administration had mistreated Muslims and deported genuine Kenyans to Ethiopia and other Arab countries over terrorism links.
Nomination rows also continue to jolt Party of National Unity (PNU)’s plans to upstage ODM with over 500 parliamentary and civic aspirants, mainly from NARC-Kenya demanding a meeting with Kibaki to discuss the nomination method by PNU and an assurance that the exercise will be free and fair.
Raila Odinga
The launch of Odinga’s presidential campaign at Uhuru Park in Nairobi last Saturday was indeed a show of might and the thousands who turned up for the rally, was a clear indication that Mwai Kibaki has to dig deeper into his vast experience if he has to remain in State House.
The big turn out was reminiscent of the National Rainbow Coalition euphoria of December 30, 2002 when Kibaki was sworn in as Kenya’s third president after confining the then ruling Kenya African National Union to the periphery of power for the first time in over 40 years?
The nomination turn out in ODM is also a cause of concern for Kibaki. The party’s bank account boasts of Ksh300m (sh7.5b) with over 1,290 parliamentary aspirants having picked ODM nomination forms for 210 slots in the constituencies and 151,490 in the civic seats.
Soon after Odinga was confirmed ODM presidential candidate, his poll ratings started a sharp upward climb at the expense of both Kibaki and Kalonzo Musyoka of ODM-Kenya. It is not by coincidence that polls show Odinga enjoying his greatest advantage among the youth who are the majority of voters — about seven million out of the 14 million registered voters.
The Standard and Nation media groups’ commissioned surveys show Odinga as Kenya’s favourite choice for the top seat.
The surveys showed Odinga popular among the youth and working population, while Kibaki is popular among older citizens and the working population.
The Odinga wave that has swept across six provinces in the country except Kibaki’s central province and Kalonzo Musyoka’s eastern, is a cause for worry with Kibaki’s key men warning against the belief that ‘Raila is unelectable’ was no longer tenable.
Odinga was believed to be too radical, divisive and unpredictable to sell easily outside his Luo Nyanza. But due to the defection to the party by former health minister Charity Ngilu, the president’s men have retreated to the drawing board to devise new strategies on how PNU can calm the Odinga wave. Musalia Mudavadi remained steadfast in ODM even after failing to secure the ticket.
Kalonzo Musyoka
He abandoned Odinga’s group to run his own presidential campaign on ODM-Kenya ticket. This has been reduced to a small regional grouping. Musyoka’s exit boosted Odinga’s stature as he embarked on driving his campaign with vigour.
Last year, Musyoka was regarded as the favourite to win the presidency having led in opinion polls, but his decision to hijack ODM-Kenya from the Raila group buried his hopes. Like Odinga, Musyoka is rooting for a federal system of government.
Ngilu’s decision to support Odinga instead of his clan mate, Kalonzo, was another clear indicator that the former foreign affairs minister was just but a joy rider. He is still optimistic of emerging winner on the homestretch, but only time will tell whether Kalonzo is warming to team up with PNU at the 11th hour.
Raila Odinga
-Born in Nyanza Province on January 7, 1945 to the second son of Kenya’s first vice-president, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and his wife Mary.
-Raila is the MP for Langata. He is married to Ida and they have four children.
-Graduated from Otto von Guericke Technical University, Magdeburg, Germany, in 1970, with a MSc in Mechanical Engineering. He returned to Kenya to take care of the Odinga family after his father’s detention without trial in 1969.
-Raila was an assistant lecturer at the University of Nairobi before joining the nascent Kenya Bureau of Standards. He established a family business, which manufactures liquid petroleum gas cylinders.
-The increasing repression by the state led to Raila’s wider political participation against the evils in his land. Today, Raila works for the third liberation of Kenya — liberation from the corruption and ethnic favouritism that has bedevilled the nation’s social and economic progress for over 40 years.
-He was once a university lecturer before he established the Kenya Bureau of Standards.
-He became MP for the cosmopolitan constituency of Langata, Nairobi, in the general election of December 29, 1992 and retained his seat in subsequent general elections in 1997 and 2002.
-He spent nine years in opposition, first in Ford-Kenya and then in the National Democratic Party. In 2001, Raila was appointed minister for energy in the KANU government. Later, as member of the Liberal Democratic Party, he was part of the National Rainbow Coalition that won the 2002 elections and broke KANU’s hold on power since 1963.
-He was appointed minister for roads, public works, and housing, but was replaced in the cabinet at the end of 2005, after his opposition to constitutional reforms led to a referendum victory against the government.
-As a cabinet minister, Raila effected extensive reforms in the ministries he worked for. His opposition to successive governments that have looted Kenya has led him into three periods of detention without trial.
-He was detained for a total of eight years, six of them spent in solitary confinement. As the MP for a constituency that houses a large number of Nairobi’s urban poor, Raila has initiated several poverty-alleviation and education projects.
Stephen Kalonza
-Born on December 24, 1953 in Tseikuru, Mwingi district to Mr. and Mrs. Musyoka Mairu.
-In 1960, he joined Tseikuru Full Primay School.
-Joined Kitui High School in 1968 for o’level.
-Joined Meru High School for A’level after good performance in Form Four in 1972. In 1973, he sat for his examination and scored three principals and one subsidiary pass that earned him a place to follow his cherished dream of studying Law at the University of Nairobi.
-He finished his Law degree in 1977 and joined the Kenya Law School to train as an advocate.
-He went to the Kaplan and Stratton Law Firm and from 1978, Musyoka developed close ties with the Rotary Club of Nairobi. In the later years, he was elected its chairman. In 1985, he married his long time girlfriend, Pauline and they have four children.
Who is Kibaki?
-Born to the late Kibaki Githinji and Teresia Wanjiku on November 15, 1931 in Gatuyaini village, Central Province.
-Completed Sub A and Sub B (equivalent of standard one and two) at Gatuyaini Village School. Went to Karima Mission School before joining Mathari School between 1944 and 1946.
-Worked as a turn boy on buses operated by the defunct Othaya African Bus Union.
-From 1947-1950, he went to Man’gu High School for O’level. He was influenced by the veterans of the two world wars in his village and considered becoming a soldier. However, this did not materialise because the chief colonial secretary, Walter Coutts barred the recruitment of Kikuyu, Embu and Meru into the army.
-He went to Makerere University to pursue a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics, History and Political Science. He was the chairman of the Kenya Students Association and the vice-chairman of Makerere Students Guild. He graduated in 1955 with a First Class Honours Degree in Economics and became the assistant sales manager of Shell Company of East Africa, Uganda.
-The same year, he joined the London School of Economics for a B.Sc in Public Finance, graduating with a distinction.
-From 1958-1960, he was an assistant lecturer in the Economics Department. He was also involved in the founding of the KANU party and in 1960, he returned home to take up a job with KANU as an executive officer.
-In 1962, he married Lucy Muthoni, the daughter of a church minister. They have four children and three grandchildren.
-In 1963 he contested in the Donholm Constituency in Nairobi, which he won.
-From 1963 to 1965, he was the parliamentary secretary to the minister of finance and was appointed a minister in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry where he served until 1969. In the same year, Kibaki was re-elected the MP for Donholm Constituency. He was later moved to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning where he served from 1970 to 1978. In 1974, he moved his political base from Nairobi to Othaya and was re-elected to represent Othaya.
-He was re-elected MP for the same constituency in 1979, 1983 and 1988. Kibaki was also the Othaya KANU chairman from 1974 to 1991 when he resigned from KANU to found the Democratic Party (DP).
-He was appointed vice-president in 1978 when Daniel Arap Moi took over power following the death of founding president, Jomo Kenyatta. He served in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning until 1983 when he moved to the Ministry of Home Affairs and National Heritage .
-He served until 1988 when he was moved to the Ministry of Health. From 1978 to 1988, Kibaki was the leader of Government Business and chairman of the Sessional Committee.
-From 1978 to 1988, he was the KANU vice-president. Kibaki founded DP on December 25, 1991 and vied for the presidency on its ticket in the 1992 elections. He came third after Moi and Kenneth Matiba. In 1997, he contested for the presidency and came second to Moi.
-He became a member and the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee from 1997 to 2002. In January 1998, DP became the Official Opposition Party hence Kibaki became its leader. He also became a member of the House Business Committee from 1998 to 2002 and was sworn in as president on December 30, 2002 after winning in the preceding elections held on December 27, 2002. He is Kenya’s third president.
FOR President Mwai Kibaki, it will be a do-or-die battle as he seeks his second and final term. The deep-seated feeling in his main challenger, Raila Odinga of Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) that the incumbent never reciprocated the support he gave him in the 2002 elections, is still a bone of contention between the two.
Claims also emerged that the government was behind the move to split ODM and support Odinga’s election as the party flag bearer in the hope that he would be easy to beat at the polls. However, it became apparent that Kibaki’s strategists miscalculated Odinga’s popularity.
The entry of the retired president Daniel Arap Moi into Kibaki’s campaign bandwagon has added more misery into the incumbent’s re-election bid. The former president who was expected to harvest the over 2.5 million votes from his Kalenjin community, has received massive resistance from ODM’s Pentagon member, William Ruto, winning the support of the community to Moi’s chagrin.
Vice-president Moody Awori was also expected to easily win votes from the Luhya community in Western Kenya, but the ODM tide has swept the region to an extent that winning the Funyula seat by the vice-president might even be a nightmare for the octogenarian. Former vice-president in Moi’s government Musalia Mudavadi and Odinga’s running mate has taken control of the region like thunder.
The ODM wave has also not spared the Muslim community; majority of whom have thrown their weight behind Odinga over claims that Kibaki’s administration had mistreated Muslims and deported genuine Kenyans to Ethiopia and other Arab countries over terrorism links.
Nomination rows also continue to jolt Party of National Unity (PNU)’s plans to upstage ODM with over 500 parliamentary and civic aspirants, mainly from NARC-Kenya demanding a meeting with Kibaki to discuss the nomination method by PNU and an assurance that the exercise will be free and fair.
Raila Odinga
The launch of Odinga’s presidential campaign at Uhuru Park in Nairobi last Saturday was indeed a show of might and the thousands who turned up for the rally, was a clear indication that Mwai Kibaki has to dig deeper into his vast experience if he has to remain in State House.
The big turn out was reminiscent of the National Rainbow Coalition euphoria of December 30, 2002 when Kibaki was sworn in as Kenya’s third president after confining the then ruling Kenya African National Union to the periphery of power for the first time in over 40 years?
The nomination turn out in ODM is also a cause of concern for Kibaki. The party’s bank account boasts of Ksh300m (sh7.5b) with over 1,290 parliamentary aspirants having picked ODM nomination forms for 210 slots in the constituencies and 151,490 in the civic seats.
Soon after Odinga was confirmed ODM presidential candidate, his poll ratings started a sharp upward climb at the expense of both Kibaki and Kalonzo Musyoka of ODM-Kenya. It is not by coincidence that polls show Odinga enjoying his greatest advantage among the youth who are the majority of voters — about seven million out of the 14 million registered voters.
The Standard and Nation media groups’ commissioned surveys show Odinga as Kenya’s favourite choice for the top seat.
The surveys showed Odinga popular among the youth and working population, while Kibaki is popular among older citizens and the working population.
The Odinga wave that has swept across six provinces in the country except Kibaki’s central province and Kalonzo Musyoka’s eastern, is a cause for worry with Kibaki’s key men warning against the belief that ‘Raila is unelectable’ was no longer tenable.
Odinga was believed to be too radical, divisive and unpredictable to sell easily outside his Luo Nyanza. But due to the defection to the party by former health minister Charity Ngilu, the president’s men have retreated to the drawing board to devise new strategies on how PNU can calm the Odinga wave. Musalia Mudavadi remained steadfast in ODM even after failing to secure the ticket.
Kalonzo Musyoka
He abandoned Odinga’s group to run his own presidential campaign on ODM-Kenya ticket. This has been reduced to a small regional grouping. Musyoka’s exit boosted Odinga’s stature as he embarked on driving his campaign with vigour.
Last year, Musyoka was regarded as the favourite to win the presidency having led in opinion polls, but his decision to hijack ODM-Kenya from the Raila group buried his hopes. Like Odinga, Musyoka is rooting for a federal system of government.
Ngilu’s decision to support Odinga instead of his clan mate, Kalonzo, was another clear indicator that the former foreign affairs minister was just but a joy rider. He is still optimistic of emerging winner on the homestretch, but only time will tell whether Kalonzo is warming to team up with PNU at the 11th hour.
Raila Odinga
-Born in Nyanza Province on January 7, 1945 to the second son of Kenya’s first vice-president, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and his wife Mary.
-Raila is the MP for Langata. He is married to Ida and they have four children.
-Graduated from Otto von Guericke Technical University, Magdeburg, Germany, in 1970, with a MSc in Mechanical Engineering. He returned to Kenya to take care of the Odinga family after his father’s detention without trial in 1969.
-Raila was an assistant lecturer at the University of Nairobi before joining the nascent Kenya Bureau of Standards. He established a family business, which manufactures liquid petroleum gas cylinders.
-The increasing repression by the state led to Raila’s wider political participation against the evils in his land. Today, Raila works for the third liberation of Kenya — liberation from the corruption and ethnic favouritism that has bedevilled the nation’s social and economic progress for over 40 years.
-He was once a university lecturer before he established the Kenya Bureau of Standards.
-He became MP for the cosmopolitan constituency of Langata, Nairobi, in the general election of December 29, 1992 and retained his seat in subsequent general elections in 1997 and 2002.
-He spent nine years in opposition, first in Ford-Kenya and then in the National Democratic Party. In 2001, Raila was appointed minister for energy in the KANU government. Later, as member of the Liberal Democratic Party, he was part of the National Rainbow Coalition that won the 2002 elections and broke KANU’s hold on power since 1963.
-He was appointed minister for roads, public works, and housing, but was replaced in the cabinet at the end of 2005, after his opposition to constitutional reforms led to a referendum victory against the government.
-As a cabinet minister, Raila effected extensive reforms in the ministries he worked for. His opposition to successive governments that have looted Kenya has led him into three periods of detention without trial.
-He was detained for a total of eight years, six of them spent in solitary confinement. As the MP for a constituency that houses a large number of Nairobi’s urban poor, Raila has initiated several poverty-alleviation and education projects.
Stephen Kalonza
-Born on December 24, 1953 in Tseikuru, Mwingi district to Mr. and Mrs. Musyoka Mairu.
-In 1960, he joined Tseikuru Full Primay School.
-Joined Kitui High School in 1968 for o’level.
-Joined Meru High School for A’level after good performance in Form Four in 1972. In 1973, he sat for his examination and scored three principals and one subsidiary pass that earned him a place to follow his cherished dream of studying Law at the University of Nairobi.
-He finished his Law degree in 1977 and joined the Kenya Law School to train as an advocate.
-He went to the Kaplan and Stratton Law Firm and from 1978, Musyoka developed close ties with the Rotary Club of Nairobi. In the later years, he was elected its chairman. In 1985, he married his long time girlfriend, Pauline and they have four children.
Who is Kibaki?
-Born to the late Kibaki Githinji and Teresia Wanjiku on November 15, 1931 in Gatuyaini village, Central Province.
-Completed Sub A and Sub B (equivalent of standard one and two) at Gatuyaini Village School. Went to Karima Mission School before joining Mathari School between 1944 and 1946.
-Worked as a turn boy on buses operated by the defunct Othaya African Bus Union.
-From 1947-1950, he went to Man’gu High School for O’level. He was influenced by the veterans of the two world wars in his village and considered becoming a soldier. However, this did not materialise because the chief colonial secretary, Walter Coutts barred the recruitment of Kikuyu, Embu and Meru into the army.
-He went to Makerere University to pursue a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics, History and Political Science. He was the chairman of the Kenya Students Association and the vice-chairman of Makerere Students Guild. He graduated in 1955 with a First Class Honours Degree in Economics and became the assistant sales manager of Shell Company of East Africa, Uganda.
-The same year, he joined the London School of Economics for a B.Sc in Public Finance, graduating with a distinction.
-From 1958-1960, he was an assistant lecturer in the Economics Department. He was also involved in the founding of the KANU party and in 1960, he returned home to take up a job with KANU as an executive officer.
-In 1962, he married Lucy Muthoni, the daughter of a church minister. They have four children and three grandchildren.
-In 1963 he contested in the Donholm Constituency in Nairobi, which he won.
-From 1963 to 1965, he was the parliamentary secretary to the minister of finance and was appointed a minister in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry where he served until 1969. In the same year, Kibaki was re-elected the MP for Donholm Constituency. He was later moved to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning where he served from 1970 to 1978. In 1974, he moved his political base from Nairobi to Othaya and was re-elected to represent Othaya.
-He was re-elected MP for the same constituency in 1979, 1983 and 1988. Kibaki was also the Othaya KANU chairman from 1974 to 1991 when he resigned from KANU to found the Democratic Party (DP).
-He was appointed vice-president in 1978 when Daniel Arap Moi took over power following the death of founding president, Jomo Kenyatta. He served in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning until 1983 when he moved to the Ministry of Home Affairs and National Heritage .
-He served until 1988 when he was moved to the Ministry of Health. From 1978 to 1988, Kibaki was the leader of Government Business and chairman of the Sessional Committee.
-From 1978 to 1988, he was the KANU vice-president. Kibaki founded DP on December 25, 1991 and vied for the presidency on its ticket in the 1992 elections. He came third after Moi and Kenneth Matiba. In 1997, he contested for the presidency and came second to Moi.
-He became a member and the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee from 1997 to 2002. In January 1998, DP became the Official Opposition Party hence Kibaki became its leader. He also became a member of the House Business Committee from 1998 to 2002 and was sworn in as president on December 30, 2002 after winning in the preceding elections held on December 27, 2002. He is Kenya’s third president.