Kanu has launched a campaign to reinvigorate itself with a series of activities that will start at the home of the late President Daniel arap Moi today as his son, Gideon Moi, prepares for a stab at the presidency in 2022.
And while the official reason for the 40 days of activities is to mourn President Moi, Kanu, now led by Gideon, the former president’s last-born son, wants to use the forums as an avenue to not only seek the views of its supporters on how to revive the party, but also to grow its membership.
“Mzee was Kanu through and through and as we start this 40-day period, there has been a keen interest of what Kanu can and should be, and many people are eager to join this renewed push,” Kanu secretary-general Nick Salat told the Sunday Nation.
Today, a 1,000-strong delegation from Baringo County will be the first to visit the Moi home in Kabarak, Nakuru County. This will be followed by a team from Nakuru and different special interest groups before the gates are opened to other Kenyans.
The party leadership will take breaks in between, and especially over the weekends, to attend the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) rallies going on across the country. Gideon attended the Meru rally yesterday.
Gideon, who is also the Baringo senator, was handed a replica of the baton that was synonymous with Moi’s rule in his 24 years, four months and eight days at the helm — signifying the unenviable responsibility on him to not only revive Kanu, but attempt to return it to the giant it once was.
And in 2022, Senator Moi, Mr Salat said, will make his first attempt at the presidency.
Even though the decision will be made by the party organs on Gideon’s presidential run, Mr Salat said that “considering that no one has declared interest in the top job, he is definitely our man to go for the top seat.”
“Kanu will be represented in all the elective seats offered for choice in the 2022 General Election. We will of course be guided by the ongoing talk on change of government and executive structure, but more importantly, Kanu will go for the top seat in the land,” the former Bomet MP told the Sunday Nation, exuding confidence of Mr Moi’s chances.
Kanu has branches in 41 devolved units, way above the legally required representation in 25 of Kenya’s 47 counties.
“In terms of infrastructure, our party is unparalleled. We have the most diverse, most enduring roots across Kenya. And now, we want all of them to be active so that we have a seamless running of the branches,” he said.
Kanu, it appears, wants to take continued advantage of the name of Moi, one that catapulted Gideon to the national platform.
“We are focused on reawakening Kanu as Raymond Moi said, and at the centre of it all will be Gideon Moi, whom we will ask to present the party to take its rightful position in Kenyan politics as well as reawaken, reactivate and reconnect with our massive, unmatched grass roots following,” said Mr Salat.
Kenyatta University lecturer Prof Edward Kisiang’ani believes, however, that not much will come out of the strategy.
“Even when Moi was alive, and he maintained a certain limited presence in national politics, he was not really able to push Gideon to as much national prominence as you would expect from such a name,” Prof Kisiang’ani argued.
He went on: “Even then, the Mzee could only do so much. Gideon now has to contend with increased competition; all the fangs that were possibly hidden because Mzee was still alive will now come out.”
Gideon is now facing fierce competition from Moi’s political protégé, Deputy President William Ruto, the ambitious politician a heartbeat away from the presidency and who is determined to take aim at the top job in 2022.
Responding to reports of the planned Kanu revamp, Nandi senator Samson Cherargei, a key ally of the DP, dismissed the party as insignificant.
“In 2002, it was said that Kanu was an empty shell. It still is. Any revamp will not increase their dwindling political clout. It will still be in the league of small, and dead parties like Safina and such,” the vocal legislator said.
Mr Cherargei insisted that Jubilee Party was “the only party with a national outlook”, a model he said should be embraced by Kanu and other parties.
“In a democracy, of course, they are allowed to rebuild, but really, they are insignificant in national politics.
“So they can take 40 days or 1,000 days, it will still remain the dead giant it is,” said Mr Cherargei.
Dr Ruto was under Moi’s wing from 1992 when he became part of the Youth for Kanu (YK’92) before plunging into the world of elective politics, winning the Eldoret North seat, a constituency he led until his elevation to the country’s second-in-command in 2013.
Gideon, on the other hand, did not have much public profile until 2002 when he inherited his father’s Baringo Central seat. Mzee Moi had led the constituency, which was called Baringo North, until 1966, for a staggering 39 years.
In 2007, Moi’s sons Gideon, Jonathan (Eldama Ravine) and Raymond (Rongai) lost their parliamentary seats in an election that Kanu performed dismally, registering a disappointing 14 MP seats countrywide, with no presence in the populous western province, and the capital Nairobi.
At the time, Dr Ruto was Raila Odinga’s right hand man and Rift Valley kingpin in the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).
Gideon and Jonathan reinvented themselves five years later, with the former elected as the Baringo senator, and the latter, Rongai MP.
In 2016, Dr Ruto and Gideon went head-to-head in a Senate by-election in Kericho necessitated by the appointment of the DP’s close friend Charles Keter to the Cabinet.
In the mini-poll, Kanu fielded former health minister Paul Marisin Sang backed by then rebellious Bomet governor and Chama Cha Mashinani leader Isaac Ruto and Jubilee Party rebel MPs Alfred Keter (Nandi Hills) and Stephen Ole Ntutu (Narok senator).
Mr Sang lost to the youthful Aaron Cheruiyot, but not before giving Dr Ruto a run for his money in a race that should have been a walk in the park for the region’s political supremo.
Now, and following the decision by Kanu to back President Uhuru Kenyatta’s re-election in 2017, and the subsequent handshake between him and Mr Odinga in March 2018, Kanu, Mr Salat says, is ready for the big league.
“Kanu will play its rightful role in jumping in for an inclusive nation, we want to spread the cake, cut down on corruption and there is enough money to have proper leadership, and that is why we support the handshake spearheaded by the President and former premier,” he said.
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