Mukhisa Kituyi might be the secret presidential candidate for President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga, according to close Uhuru and Raila associates.
They have told the Star that the former Trade minister is being considered a compromise candidate in case the Orange party leader does not contest the presidency.
There are indications that Raila may contest he presidency for the fourth time, but he has not pronounced himself on his 2022 intentions.
Uhuru has also been considering ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi as a potential successor.
Kituyi is the secretary-general of the Geneva-based United Nations Conference on Trade Development (Unctad) and might use the position to plot a presidential stab in 2022.
His tour of duty at Unctad ends in July 2021, a year to the country’s next general election in 2022.
He is the UN agency’s seventh secretary-general, having been appointed to the position in September 2013. His term was renewed for another four years by the UN General Assembly in July 2017.
The wrangles in Ford Kenya have been linked to his return.
“All that we are seeing happening in Ford Kenya has everything to do with preparing the ground for the return of Kituyi who will use the party as his presidential vehicle,” a senior Ford Kenya insider aware of the plans said.
Wetang’ula, a co-principal in the opposition Nasa coalition, is battling for the grip on Ford Kenya after a palace coup by a section of the National Executive Council on May 30.
The senator is seeking to block the Registrar of Political Parties Ann Nderitu from confirming Kanduyi MP Wafula Wamunyinyi as the new party leader alleging irregularities and illegalities.
Wetang’ula has protested against Nderitu’s move to issue a public notice of the intended change of officials in favour of the Wamunyinyi-led faction.
In a petition to the registrar, the embattled party leader says about 14 in the list of NEC members who want him to be kicked out are not members of the party’s top organ.
He further accuses party secretary general Eseli Simiyu of using government employees attached to Bungoma and Trans Nzoia counties as NEC members, against the Constitution.
“The Constitution bars public servants from engaging in politics,” the petition reads even as some on the list Eseli presented have denied being present and disowned their signatures.
Ford Kenya party constitution allows a half of the total 75 NEC members to dismiss the party leader.
The Eseli team managed to bring together 44 members, whom the Wetang’ula team want audited and documents provided verified.
But as the senator battles to reclaim the party, details have emerged of a well-orchestrated bid to ultimately install Kituyi as the Ford Kenya leader, dealing the Bungoma senator a major political blow.
Leading the group is Devolution Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa, Kituyi’s cousin.
Yesterday, Wamalwa could not confirm or deny the Kituyi plot.
“Politics is dynamic is all I can say,” he said.
Kituyi and Wetang’ula hail from the Bukusu clan of the vote-rich Luyha community in Western Kenya.
On Wednesday, Ford Kenya deputy party leader Richard Onyonka, could not confirm nor deny the reports linking the Unctad boss to the party wrangles.
Regarded as a neutral arbiter in the Wetang’ula-Wamunyinyi factional wars, the Kitutu Chache South MP said, ” I don’t know anything about anything” when asked about the plot for Kituyi.
But Simiyu, the Tongaren MP, who is the current Ford Kenya secretary-general allied to the Wamunyinyi faction, could not directly link the takeover to Kituyi’s return.
“Men and women who left the party are ready and willing to come back. If Mukhisa Kituyi is among them, so be it,” Simiyu said tactifully to the Star’s question.
Wamunyingi said his team is ready and determined to revamp Ford Kenya after years of “misrule.”
“We want to be clear that everyone is welcome. Even Mukhisa Kituyi is welcome to the party now,” he said.
Independent interviews with at least seven different politicians from Ford Kenya and powerful faces in government disclosed a tightly-knit scheme that pointed to a possible Kituyi presidency.
Tellingly, Kituyi last month sent out a message to his close allies and supporters in what gave the clearest indication of his intention to throw his hat in the presidential contest ring.
“Friends, over the past three months, I have been inundated by messages of goodwill and requests to offer myself as a candidate for the presidency of Kenya at the next general elections. I am deeply touched by your overwhelming support and the confidence you have in me to serve our country in this high office,” his May 19 message read.
The former Trade minister assured anxious supporters that he is actively considering the matter and will formally communicate his decision at an appropriate time in the near future.
“In the near future, once travel restrictions are lifted, I intend to travel home to meet old and new friends including many of you to share my vision for our people and hold consultations on the future of our county and my role,” he said.
According to sources aware of the 2022 presidential schemes, Kituyi is in President Kenyatta’s 2022 succession matrix in a scheme that could trigger heartbreaks and dismay.
He is said to have been identified as a safe pair of hands in Uhuru’s succession gameplan, muddying waters for Musalia.
The ANC leader, who like Kituyi hails from the Luyha nation, has for long been touted as a likely compromise presidential candidate and a safe pair of hands in the 2022 presidential duel.
There are reports that he could be plotting a 2022 working arrangement with Deputy President William Ruto, who has fallen out of favour in the Uhuru succession race.
Recently, he me key political allies of Ruto both from Western and Rift Valley. He has also met former presidential candidates Peter Kenneth and Martha Karua.
These meetings triggered speculations that he could be warming up to Ruto with political pundits opining that the DP could as well drop his presidential ambitions and back the ANC leader.
With politicians scheming how to succeed Uhuru, the entry of Mukhisa could also complicate equations for other bigwigs angling for the President’s endorsement including Raila.
Powerful Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, who was at some point touted as the possible Uhuru-Raila joint presidential candidate in 2022, could be pushed to the periphery.
Some, however, say Matiang’i remains in the equation.
“There is a strong feeling that Kituyi would be the best option to succeed President Uhuru Kenyatta because of his untainted career as well as his accountability credentials,” said a senior political strategist aware of the intrigues of Uhuru’s succession plans.
The official, who chose to be anonymous, claimed that the way was being prepared for Kituyi’s return before elaborate political activities are rolled out to market him across the nation once he is back from duty in Geneva.
“Kituyi has a massive track record decorated with impressive performance whenever he served including when he was the country’s Trade minister during Kibaki’s first term,” the official said.
Kituyi is a co-founder of Ford-Kenya, which he however briefly left in 2006 for Narc Kenya before heading to New-Ford Kenya in 2007.
During the polls marred by post-election chaos, he lost the Kimilili parliamentary seat to Simiyu, now the Tongaren representative.
Kituyi rejoined Ford-Kenya in 2010, ahead of the 2013 polls but decamped to UDF on whose ticket he unsuccessfully vied for the Bungoma Senate seat.
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