Kenya Election Watch: Weekly Updates

Week of August 3-9, 2002

Summary: Welcome to this edition of Kenya Election Watch’s Weekly Updates! Here, we provide our readers with summaries of news stories covering the election, constitutional reform, and related issues culled from Kenya’s two major daily newspapers: The Daily Nation; and The East African Standard. Each month, we pick out the major events from these weekly updates and post them on the main Kenya Election Watch page, along with one or two analysis pieces. The “week” period normally covers Fridays to Thursdays. We also provide a brief summary of the major trend or event of the week. This section is complied by Mary Wabwire and Cathy Majtenyi. For more information or comments, contact Kenya Election Watch editor Cathy Majtenyi at: cathymaj@hotmail.com

President Moi’s insistence on supporting the candidacy of Local Government Minister Uhuru Kenyatta seems to be splitting KANU at the seams. As commentators have observed this week, presidential hopefuls in KANU – and, indeed, other KANU MPs, politicians, and the public – are no longer afraid of standing up to President Moi and objecting loudly and publicly to what they see as his strong-arm tactics to defy the KANU constitution and push for his favoured candidate. President Moi’s public and humiliating snub of Vice-President George Saitoti at the rally in Kilgoris, Trans Mara District, may actually backfire on the president and draw people to support Saitoti, as chanting members of the public demonstrated. The race is not over until it’s over!

Acronyms

All throughout the chronology and updates are sprinkled acronyms referring to various committees, commissions, political movements, etc. Here, we spell out these acronyms and provide some brief background information.

CKRC = Constitution of Kenya Review Commission. Chaired by Prof. Yash Pal Ghai, the 27-member group collects the views of a wide cross-section of Kenyan groups and individuals. The commission is supposed to present Kenyans with a new constitution on October 4.

PSCCR = Parliamentary Select Committee on Constitutional Review. Chaired by Raila Odinga, Minister of Energy, the committee monitors the work of the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission (CKRC).

KANU = Kenya African National Union, the party that has ruled Kenya since independence. Daniel arap Moi is the president of Kenya.

NAC = National Alliance for Change. This is a grouping of the Democratic Party, FORD-Kenya, National Party of Kenya (NPK), FORD-Asili, SPARK, and several advocacy groups. The group is striving to field one presidential candidate.

NAK = the National Alliance (Party) of Kenya. This is the overarching political party that NAC has recently formed.

KPC = Kenya People's Coalition. This is a grouping of FORD-People, Safina, the Labour Party of Kenya, and the National Convention Executive Council (NCEC).

MPs = Members of Parliament. Currently, the House contains a total of 222 MPs.

Events

Saturday Nation, August 3 – Minister of Energy and KANU Secretary General Raila Odinga reacts sharply to the pro-Uhuru Kenyatta stand taken by 27 Rift Valley MPs backed by Cabinet Nicholas Biwott. He says that their views were not sincere and did not represent those of the electorate. Odinga was referring to a statement that Biwott read declaring Local Government Minister Kenyatta as Rift Valley’s preferred nominee for the presidential race in the Moi succession bid.

The Standard, August 3 – Eleven MPs from the Mount Kenya Region – including eight MPs from the opposition Democratic Party of Kenya, Safina, and Social Democratic Party – back Uhuru Kenyatta’s candidature. “Other aspiring candidates should forget chasing the seat because it is a foregone conclusion,” they said. They say that “Moi is a coach of the team. He decides who plays where.”

Saturday Nation, August 3 – Celebrations turn to anger in Nyanza Province, Western Kenya, as President Moi mentions to the crowd gathered at the Kisumu showground that he has chosen Local Government Minister Uhuru Kenyatta to succeed him in the race for the presidency. The crowed boos and jeers as President Moi speaks. This is because everyone in that part of Kenya expected that Raila Odinga, former NDP leader and originally from the area, would be President Moi’s favourite after he merged his party with KANU earlier in the year.

The Standard, August 3 – Raila Odinga says he is optimistic that he will win the KANU presidential nomination, and expressed satisfaction at President Moi’s statement that all candidates for the party’s presidential nomination were free to contest. “This has cleared the notion that he had locked out the rest from the race,” he says.

The Standard, August 3 – Vice President George Saitoti receives support from 52 Maasai leaders for the presidency. They say that, since Saitoti is Kenya’s vice president, he would constitutionally be first in line as President Moi’s successor. The leaders say that Saitoti’s silence on the succession issue should not be misinterpreted to mean cowardice, but rather commitment to the realisation of a truly democratic nation.

Saturday Nation, August 3 – CKRC head Prof. Yash Pal Ghai welcomes Parliament’s decision to extend the commission’s life to January 3, 2003. He says the extension improves the chances of having a new constitution by the end of the year.

The Standard, August 3 – Kenneth Matiba, chairman of the unregistered Saba Saba Asili, agrees to meet with Democratic Party leader Mwai Kibaki to discuss the opposition’s options if the general election is not held within the stipulated period. Matiba says his meeting with Kibaki will lay the ground for a national conference to oversee the transition period if the elections are not held by January 5. He says that it is mandatory that elections be held by January 5, 2003. [President Moi was sworn into power on January 4, 1998; his term officially ends on January 3, 2003].

The Standard, August 3 – The campaign for Cabinet Minister Musalia Mudavadi’s nomination as the KANU candidate for the presidency officially starts today. He plans to kick off his campaign at a public rally hosted by Westlands MP Fred Gumo in Kangemi, Nairobi. Also hitting their campaign trails this weekend are fellow contenders Raila Odinga, Uhuru Kenyatta, and Vice President George Saitoti, who is expected to declare his stand on the KANU presidential nomination.

The Standard, August 3 – The Minister for Local Government and KANU presidential aspirant Uhuru Kenyatta assures Kenyans that he is ready and capable of performing the enormous task of the presidency.

Saturday Nation, August 3 – Politicians allied to Cabinet Minister Uhuru Kenyatta visit State House Nakuru and resolve to launch their campaign to win him the KANU presidential nominations. At State House, the politicians were told that President Moi could not be expected to campaign for Kenyatta alone.

Saturday Nation, August 3 – Mombasa Catholic Archbishop John Njenga says President Moi has the right to propose his successor. However, his proposal should not be taken as an imposition of a presidential candidate on Kenyans, Njenga says.

Saturday Nation, August 3 – Today’s commentary by David Makali says President Moi’s actions have always been calculated to achieve two goals: to protect himself; and to appease the Kikuyu community. And he has excelled at both, Makali writes. Makali wonders if President Moi struck a deal with the older Kenyatta [Former Kenyan President Jomo Kenyatta, the father of Uhuru Kenyatta] to return the presidency to the Kenyatta family or the Kikuyu community in general. Unless Raila Odinga, Musalia Mudavadi, and George Saitoti gang up against Kenyatta, there is the possibility that there will be many injured egos rallying behind President Moi’s nominee or jostling for accommodation in other opposition alliances.

The Standard, August 3 – A commentary written by Joe Kadhi argues that the rivalry between the Young Turks competing to succeed President Moi shows that “KANU is entering a new phase of political tolerance needed to boost democracy in the party. The party is likely to become more powerful and influential if it empowers its leaders to take part in open debate about the kind of leadership they intend to offer Kenya after Moi.”

Sunday Nation, August 4 – President Moi announces that the general election will be held before January 3, 2003. He says this at a political rally in Kilgoris, Trans Mara District, where a hostile crowd confronts him for the second time in three days. After President Moi mentions the names of Uhuru Kenyatta and fellow cabinet minister Julius Sunkuli, the crowd reacts by waving placards and jeering. Trans Mara KANU Vice-Chairman Kijabe ole Tunai says that “the Maasai should not be treated like goats to be herded from one buyer to the next.” They want to be able to choose President Moi’s successor.

Sunday Nation, August 4 – Politicians close to KANU Vice-Chairman Musalia Mudavadi and Secretary-General Raila Odinga say that Mudavadi, Odinga, Vice-President George Saitoti, and KANU Vice-Chairmen Kalonzo Musyoka and Katana Ngala – all aspirants in the Moi succession race – are working on a scheme to unite and pick one candidate amongst them so as to block Local Government Minister Uhuru Kenyatta from succeeding President Moi.

Sunday Standard, August 4 – Assistant Minister Fred Gumo asks KANU presidential hopefuls to agree among themselves who will be the flag bearer before the party holds its national delegates congress. He warns if this is not done, KANU is likely to suffer an unprecedented disintegration.

Sunday Nation, August 4 – Vice-President George Saitoti receives a lukewarm official reception during the rally that President Moi addresses in Trans Mara District. First, Saitoti was sitting in a separate room as President Moi held a two-hour meeting with a group of 100 Maasai leaders at the Kilgoris home of Cabinet Minister Julius Sunkuli. Then, during the rally, Saitoti is not given a chance to address the gathering, a departure from tradition – usually it is the vice-president who invites the president to speak at public gatherings. President Moi says that, although Saitoti is his friend, leadership is not based on friendship alone. He says he had carefully evaluated Kenyatta’s leadership abilities and was convinced that he was the most suitable successor. President Moi tells local KANU leaders to back Kenyatta if they wanted to “reap” from the next government.

Sunday Standard, August 4 – Today’s headline story reports that President Moi told Vice-President George Saitoti that Saitoti should forget about seeking the presidency, saying that Uhuru Kenyatta was his choice of successor. President Moi says this at the public rally in Kilgoris. In an accompanying article, political analysts say that when President Moi left State House, Nakuru, to attend the Kilgoris rally, he probably had no intention of telling Saitoti to forget his presidential ambitions. His salvo on Saitoti must have been triggered by pro-Saitoti elements at the rally, whose loud demonstration of support for Saitoti may have irritated President Moi, who was there to sell Kenyatta. Saitoti’s supporters kept on interrupting the speakers by heckling and chanting pro-Saitoti slogans. And, another accompanying article asks whether Saitoti will bow out of the race or continue on following his public humiliation at the Kilgoris rally. If Saitoti decides to drop out of the race, he will become largely irrelevant on the Kenyan political scene, says the article. If he decides to stay in the race, President Moi may sack him for being defiant. Some say that Saitoti’s redeeming grace could lie in the failure of “Project Uhuru,” at which time President Moi will turn to Saitoti.

Sunday Nation, August 4 – Cabinet Minister Cyrus Jirongo says he supports Uhuru Kenyatta’s bid for the presidency because he will take over from him. The MP says the Luhya ethnic group would get the country’s top leadership through him and urged them to rally behind Kenyatta if they expect to “benefit” from the next government.

Sunday Standard, August 4 – Minister of Energy Raila Odinga says public demand drove him to enter the presidential race. He says no amount of propaganda in favour of other contestants will deter him from his presidential ambitions because the Kenyan public wants him to vie for the top seat.

Sunday Standard, August 4 – Local Government Minister Uhuru Kenyatta receives a rousing welcome in Embakasi, Nairobi, an area perceived to be an opposition zone. He makes clear his intentions of vying for the presidency on a KANU ticket. The charged crowd anxiously waits for Kenyatta to speak and virtually drowns out the speeches by other leaders who talk before the minister.

Sunday Nation, August 4 – Archbishop David Gitari of the Anglican Church of Kenya says it is wrong for President Moi to openly campaign for Uhuru Kenyatta, saying that his endorsement splits Kenyans along ethnic lines. “Let President Moi understand that he has no right to impose his political will on Kenyans,” Gitari is quoted as saying. Gitari also urges the president to announce his retirement date.

Sunday Nation, August 4 – The declaration by different politicians that they will vie for the presidency is healthy politics, says Kenneth Matiba, chairman of the unregistered Saba Saba Asili party. He also urges those interested in various positions not to be cowed.

Sunday Nation, August 4 – One of KANU’s biggest supporters warns KANU that the opposition could defeat the party in the next election unless it selects a “compromise candidate” from its current crop of presidential aspirants. Assistant Minister Fred Gumo from the Office of the President says the five aspirants should agree on who will be KANU’s torchbearer in the next election. “We do not want to go to Kasarani [the traditional venue where KANU holds its delegates conference] so divided,” Gumo is quoted as saying. “We should agree on one person whom the rest of us should support.”

Sunday Nation, August 4 – GEM MP Joe Donde’s application for the National Alliance (Party) of Kenya (NAK)’s presidential nomination is rejected on the basis that he failed to channel his application through his party, FORD-Kenya. Individuals are not allowed to seek any positions within the umbrella opposition party without the sponsorship of their parties.

Sunday Standard, August 4 – Democratic Party of Kenya (DP) chairman Mwai Kibaki says that the National Alliance Party of Kenya (NAK) is not bothered with who KANU nominates, as the NAPK’s presidential candidate is sure to win.

Sunday Standard, August 4 – Former Lurambi MP Reuben Otutu urges FORD-Kenya National Chairman Kijana Wamalwa to abandon NAC and seek the presidency on a FORD-Kenya ticket. He clams that Wamalwa had no chance of being nominated in NAC to vie for the presidency.

Sunday Standard, August 4 – Cabinet Minister Joseph Kamotho pleads with Kenyans to vote for a presidential candidate who is capable of reviving the economy. He said that the leadership of this nation couldn’t be put through an experiment.

Sunday Nation, August 4 – Today’s editorial urges Kenyans to look beyond the KANU succession circus and crystallise their expectations for the next government so that they can come up with a marking scheme against which to judge all presidential candidates, including the one President Moi has chosen. There are three important issues that must be addressed, argues the editorial. The first is the very critical question of national unity. Politics, tribe, and economic class divide Kenya. “Tribalism is such a manifest and accepted evil that is blatantly undermines democracy at the ballot: Few are the Kenyans who vote for a candidate on the basis of their proposed programme,” says the editorial. Whoever succeeds President Moi must be able to: build and respect institutions; develop the agricultural sector; and balance foreign interests and demands with what is best for Kenya.

Sunday Standard, August 4 – In a commentary appearing today, writer Chaacha Mwita says that it is high time that Vice-President George Saitoti come out and announce whether or not he will vie for the presidency. Unless Saitoti is disinterested in the presidency, he cannot afford to keep mum any longer while his political juniors make progress. Mwita observes that there is not much time for campaigning, for it is less than five months away from the election. By keeping cool as the flurry of support for other candidates rise, Saitoti may be playing dumb so as not to annoy his master. Saitoti may be hoping that Kenyans will reject “Project Uhuru,” now in its second phase of implementation, so resoundingly that KANU will have no choice but to nominate him (Saitoti) for the top seat. Project Uhuru could gather momentum in the next few weeks and Saitoti could find himself swept away, together with others, into complete political irrelevance. Saitoti might fear showing his cards now, for his enemies could have enough time to do him political harm, writes Mwita. He should know that his greatest nightmare – the Goldenberg scandal – will always he with him. He will be confronted by the controversy no matter how long he postpones his declaration.

Sunday Standard, August 4 – In another commentary, writer Mwenda Njoka posses the question: “Can Kenya test-drive the presidency?” He quotes former Russian President Boris Yeltsin when Yeltsin resigned from office, leaving his anointed heir to test drive. In Botswana, Sir Ketumile quit the presidency, leaving his deputy to test drive for the remaining period before the presidential polls. Are we about to witness a Yeltsin-style kind of succession being played here in Kenya?

The Daily Nation, August 6 – Vice-President George Saitoti, KANU Secretary-General Raila Odinga, and former KANU boss Joseph Kamotho have formed a new KANU “rainbow alliance” embracing all shades of political opinion. This is aimed at forcing KANU to nominate its presidential candidate through a democratic vote instead of accepting what Odinga calls “this extremist notion of an automatic KANU presidential candidate.”

The Daily Nation, August 6 – An ambitious training programme to help police deal with electoral violence is unveiled. It targets senior officers and concentrates on human rights issues, conflict resolution, and how to deal with the public and media. The first batch of trainees is already at the Co-operative College in Karen, Nairobi. “We must be capable and wiling to manage peace and monitor signs of conflicts to be able to stop it or participate in conflict resolution whenever it occurs,” Zebedeo Ong’uti, deputy commissioner of police in charge of training, was quoted as saying.

The Daily Nation, August 6 – Democratic Party election candidates will now be scrutinised by the National Alliance Party of Kenya (NAK) instead of by their own party. DP has dismantled its nomination procedures for parliamentary and civic elections, opting instead for those stipulated in the constitution of the umbrella NAK. The new procedure provides that a council of eminent persons convene and select the best candidate from applications received from the 11 political parties in NAK.

The Standard, August 6 – Democratic Party of Kenya Chairman Mwai Kibaki, a key member of NAC, asks President Moi to announce the date for the general election. Kibaki also says he is confident of winning the next election and forming a government of national unity that guarantees prosperity and human dignity for all Kenyans. NAC will open up applications for its Parliamentary and civic candidates on September 15 ahead of the general election, he adds.

The Daily Nation, August 6 – Uriri MP Odhiambo Omamba accuses President Moi of confusing Kenyans by sending out mixed signals about the nomination of KANU’s presidential candidate. He says it is unclear why President Moi was publicly telling other presidential aspirants apart from Uhuru Kenyatta to forget the presidency while at the same time urging them to go for the top seat. “It is an application of double standards and pretence, which we will not entertain’” Omamba was quoted as saying. “He should know that his tricks are time barred.”

The Standard, August 6 – KANU Secretary-General Raila Odinga asks the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) to be fair to those others aspiring for nomination on KANU’s ticket. KBC should not be used as a campaign instrument for Local Government Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, he says.

The Daily Nation, August 6 – President Moi says tribalism should not be a factor in determining who should take over the country’s leadership, saying that his successor must be above tribal politics. He says this before introducing Local Government Minister Uhuru Kenyatta – President Moi’s favoured candidate – to counsellors and leaders of Mandera District.

The Daily Nation, August 6 – Today’s editorial says that President Moi is the cause of “petty partisan quibbling” in Kenya as he is set to retire. Because he has no respect for his party and Kenyans as a whole, he is being booed and jeered at by street children and job seekers alike, it says. President Moi is also starting to experience something historic: “a rebellion by individual party officials who have never hitherto dared answer back to him publicly.” The editorial concludes that President Moi is “cheapening the presidency intolerably” by causing such squabbles.

The Daily Nation, August 6 – The Kamba ethnic group will back President Moi’s choice of heir, says Machakos Branch Chairman Mulu Mutisya. However, it is within the Kamba community’s right to demand substantive positions in the next government, having served the country’s present and past leaderships with dedication, he says.

The Daily Nation, August 6 – FORD-People presidential candidate Simon Nyachae will hit the campaign trail in a week’s time, says Kitutu Chache MP Jimmy Angwenyi. He terms as political propaganda rumours that Nyachae was likely to join NAC. “Nyachae is poised for the presidency and nothing less,” Angwenyi was quoted as saying.

The Daily Nation, August 6 – Assistant ministers from Pokot differ over whom to support in the race for the KANU presidential nomination. Assistant Minister Samuel Moroto, Kapenguria MP, backs Raila Odinga but his colleague Samuel Poghisio of Kacheliba supports Uhuru Kenyatta.

The Standard, August 6 – Cabinet Minister Noah Katana Ngala says he is in the race for the KANU presidential nomination. “I cannot fail to lead the country,” he was quoted as saying. “It’s all about sitting down with the people and organising development and the affairs of the country.”

The Daily Nation, August 6 – Parliament should have the power to elect Kenya’s vice-president, those attending a CRKC in Shinyalu constituency, Kakamega, tell the commission. The VP should qualify to run for the presidency after serving for two consecutive five-year terms, they recommend.

The Daily Nation, August 6 – In his column today, Macharia Gaitho argues that President Moi’s “guidance” on the choosing of his successor “are being increasingly ignored or defied,” especially by MPs and the public in the west. He advises President Moi to exist gracefully, rather than risk rejection and irrelevance if he tries to rule KANU by proxy, assuming KANU wins the election.

The Daily Nation, August 7 – Any hopes of a union between FORD-People leader Simeon Nyachae’s Kenya People’s Coalition and the 11-member NAPK were snuffed out after Nyachae announces that he would kick off his solo presidential campaign in two weeks’ time. “We have done very careful planning and our campaign team has worked out a programme,” the Nyaribari-Chache MP is quoted as saying. “We are going out to the people with an issue-oriented plan. We do not want to loiter.” NAC has several times invited Nyachae to join their camp in an attempt to defeat KANU in the next election.

The Daily Nation, August 7 – President Moi and his closest political aides should be disqualified from managing the KANU presidential nomination elections, says Minister of Energy and contender Raila Odinga. He suggests that an independent agent should handle the poll to choose the party’s national flag bearer. Odinga, who is KANU secretary-general, also wants the agent to supervise the election of party officials in KANU’s 210 branches and prepare a register of all delegates.

The Daily Nation, August 7 – Cabinet Minister Nicholas Biwott says President Moi’s choice of Uhuru Kenyatta as KANU’s presidential candidate is final. “I am not mincing my words on this,” Biwott was quoted as saying. “The President said we in KANU should support Uhuru and it is going to be so.”

The Daily Nation, August 7 – Kisumu Town East representative Gor Sunguh urges KANU members to support the new “Rainbow Alliance” fronted by Vice-President George Saitoti and Minister of Energy Raila Odinga. He says it is a sure way of unifying Kenyans.

The Standard, August 7 – The Simeon Nyachae-fronted People’s Coalition of Kenya accuses KANU of using state resources to campaign for the party and Cabinet Minister Uhuru Kenyatta’s presidential bid. Nyachae claims that President Moi is using state resources to campaign for Kenyatta during his recent visits to different parts of the country.

The Daily Nation, August 7 – President Moi describes some leaders in KANU as “turncoats,” saying he is “aware of their moves.” He says although some KANU supporters professed to be loyal to him and the party, their actions did not prove it. The president’s remarks came a day after Vice-President George Saitoti, KANU Secretary- General Raila Odinga, and Cabinet Minister Joseph Kamotho met at a city hotel and announced formation of a Rainbow Alliance to ensure that party electoral rules were followed.

The Daily Nation, August 7 – Church leaders in North Rift urges President Moi to reconsider his campaign for Cabinet Minister Uhuru Kenyatta. They urge him to treat all KANU presidential candidates equally and back the candidates who win the nominations.

The Daily Nation, August 7 – Cabinet Minister Kalonzo Musyoka wants the KANU chairman – President Moi – to vet aspirants before forwarding names to the nominating body. He proposes that those seeking to be chosen should apply directly to President Moi.

The Daily Nation, August 7 – Today’s editorial praises the “timely” plan to train police officers on how to deal with election violence. “Elections, experience has shown, always take place on a powder key,” says the editorial. “Always concomitant with them are hired gangs – sometimes including members of the police force itself – trained to deal, violently if necessary, with rivals’ agents.” Three issues have to be addressed in the training: impartiality in handling election conflicts; attitudinal change about human rights and public relations issues; and the capacity to detect and prevent election offences.

The Daily Nation, August 8 – Cabinet Minister Katana Ngala withdraws from the KANU presidential nomination race and announces his support for Local Government Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, President Moi’s choice of successor. His decision follows a two-hour meeting with members of the Coast Parliamentary Group. Ngala denies being pressured to drop out of the race. “We have decided as a group that we swallow our pride and accept the fact that we all cannot become president,” Ngala is quoted as saying.

The Standard, August 8 – MPs are split down the middle over a proposal by KANU Secretary-General Raila Odinga that the nomination exercise for KANU’s presidential candidate be conducted by a neutral and independent body such as the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK). Thirty-two MPs back Odinga’s proposal, while 28 MPs reject the suggestion, saying that Odinga’s main purpose in putting forth his suggestion was to “put the credibility and authority of the party Chairman [President Moi] into disrespect and ridicule.”

The Daily Nation, August 8 – Key NAK officials meet with Kenneth Matiba, leader of the unregistered Saba Saba Asili party, to discuss proposals of fielding candidates under NAK. “Saba Saba Asili and Mr. Matiba have been supporting NAK and there is nothing strange about meeting him since he is a strong political personality,” says Dagoretti MP Beth Mugo.

The Daily Nation, August 8 – In a commentary appearing today, economic policy researcher Tony Sisule recommends that, to avoid divide-and-rule strategies and voting along tribal lines, the new constitution should require that the winning candidate for president obtain more than 50 percent of the votes cast in the first round of elections. If no candidate manages this, then there should be a second round of voting for the top two candidates where the winner should be the candidate with the highest number of votes, he writes. “With only two people in the rerun, tribalism is unlikely to rear its ugly head,” he writes. “This way, Kenyans will start voting for issues, personalities, and parties, and not tribe, as no single community is big enough to decide the national vote.”

The Daily Nation, August 9 – Less than 12 hours after Minister of Lands and Settlement Katana Ngala pulls out of the presidential race, Minister of Information and Tourism Kalonzo Musyoka is being pressured to withdraw his candidacy. Musyoka’s Eastern Province colleagues were reportedly trying to convince Musyoka to step down and support the campaign of Local Government Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, President Moi’s favoured candidate. However, Musyoka says he is still in the race. “I am still there and all that you are hearing is malicious propaganda put out by some ignorant people,” he tells The Nation.

The Daily Nation, August 9 – Parliament passes the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, which is now awaiting assent from President Moi. The legislation seeks to: extend the term of Prof. Yash Pal Ghai’s CKRC to January 3; wind up the CKRC on the day Parliament enacts a new constitution; shorten the time needed to ratify a draft constitution; have the House speaker and not the vice-president act as president should the office fall vacant; bar the acting president from running for the presidency in subsequent elections; and setting a calendar that would regulate House business and its dissolution, rather than having the president determine Parliament’s schedule.

The Daily Nation, August 9 – President Moi rejects calls by KANU Secretary-General Raila Odinga that external supervisors oversee the KANU presidential nomination, saying that KANU is democratic and does not need outsiders to advise it on how to run elections. “No outsider will advise locals on what or who to elect,” President Moi is quoted as saying. “You know who your leaders are.” He says that there are channels within KANU for members to present their complaints.

The Daily Nation, August 9 – A clerk and a registration officer with the Electoral Commission of Kenya are taken in for questioning over the loss of a blank voter’s book in Nyeri District. The two are in police custody following revelations that blank voters’ cards are in circulation in the district.

The Daily Nation, August 9 – A group of lawyers led by T.J. Kajwang is threatening to sue President Moi for contravening Article 3 rule (iv) of the KANU Constitution by supporting Uhuru Kenyatta. The section requires the KANU chairman “to promote national consciousness, peace, and unity.” The case will be filed in the High Court on August 15.

The Daily Nation, August 9 – Opposition politician Kenneth Matiba, who is the leader of the unregistered party Saba Saba Asili, declines to join NAK. “Mr. Matiba told us that he would be running for the presidency on his own,” a NAK source is quoted as saying. The reasons for Matiba’s decision have not been made public.

The Standard, August 9 – Saba Saba Asili leader Kenneth Matiba and Gem FORD-Kenya MP Joe Donde say they will work together under a new political alliance.

The Daily Nation, August 9 – Rangwe MP Shem Ochuodho joins the Social Party for Advancement and Reforms – Kenya (Spark), but says he will not be its presidential candidate. Spark is a member of NAC.

The Daily Nation, August 9 – Coast residents and civic leaders express their anger and disappointment over Cabinet Minister Katana Ngala’s withdrawal from KANU’s presidential race. For instance, in Mombasa, the chairman of the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya, Sheikh Ali Shee, describes Ngala’s decision as “cowardly. He is a disgrace and a big let down to the Coast people,” he was quoted as saying.

The Daily Nation, August 9 – Today’s editorial argues that it is easier to mould a smaller number of less rigid parties into a “single electoral machine” than to have many parties who are headed by “abrasive” leaders come together and reach consensus. It cites the examples of Kenneth Matiba and Simeon Nyachae being wooed to join NAC. Their entry into NAC “would make it infinitely more difficult for NAC to latch onto a single candidate.”

ENDS