MOI SUCCESSION GAMES, PART2 OF CHAPTER 3

Henry Kosgei and Joshua Kulei, President Moi men were in 1998 whispering of a possible Uhuru Presidency. They seemed to be quite warm to the idea, However Uhuru was to many other people a political outsider. He had never shown any open interest in politics. The weekly review had carried a story about Uhuru titled ‘The reluctant politician.

Moi had publicly declared more than once that it was about time he called it a day. Raila clearly believed that he would be the third President of the Republic of Kenya. I have always believed that Moi had promised him something futuristic. It also seemed that Moi was making promises to different aspirant of his support for whatever reason. It was also coming to realization to many that President Mois promissory note was just that, a promissory note, whether you could bank it was another question Altogether.

This became evident when Moi began sacking people while at the same time talking of a younger politician taking over from him. At a personal level, he never gave any indication whether he would support or oppose my bid. I do not know whether the President had told anybody about the announcement he made at Kapsakwony in August 2002. I suspect , however, that Uhuru, William Ruto and maybe the Presidents son Gideon knew what was happening and the bombshell that was about to drop.

Something had been brewing up for a while and it did not exactly take me by total surprise, although i was still shocked but not surprised when Moi announced he was proposing Uhuru Kenyatta to succeed him. You would hear that the Minister for Local Government had been at one gathering or the other and that he had been lent the facilities of the Presidential Press Service. This was completely out of both protocol and character. Nobody walked outside Mois shadow in such a manner. We had began getting suspicious that Uhuru was that person the President had in mind. Meanwhile the country expected something different from what Moi seemed to be planning.

At the same time, the momentum around Mwai Kibaki, Wamalwa Kijana and Charity Ngilu was swelling. So far, few people from our side had taken them seriously. Whenever they met to strategize. someone from our side would say, ‘What are two men doing with one woman in a hotel?”. It was meant to embarrass and discourage them but they were undeterred. It was within this context that Mois big announcement eventually came, Uhuru Kenyatta was the young man he had been talking about.

The announcement was greeted with absolute shock and disbelief and resentment. After making this announcement, the President visited Kakamega to a most rocky reception. We left Mt Elgon for Eldoret in the same chopper with the President. We spent the night in Eldoret and went to Kakamega the following day to a reception of wild protests. There were bonfires and rocks on the streets. It was truly a rocky affair. We gave up the possibility of public meetings and conducted our business from state lodge. The late Prof George Eshiwani went to have a chat with President Moi because Moi wanted to figure out from Eshiwani why the people responded to his Uhuru announcement with such hostility. The President was stunned. But the people of Western Province were also stunned. They had all along believed that their support for the President would be rewarded. Eshiwani indicated to him that the community felt deeply betrayed.

I held a confidential meeting with Eshiwani, Wetangula among others and no sooner had we finished than i had a call from one of the Presidents people asking why i was holding a meeting to discuss the Moi succession, It was clear that one of us was relaying information to State House. Meanwhile the opposition was growing. For his part, Moi had grown very distant from us. He had lost a lot of goodwill and support. Uhuru was now being referred to in public discourse as a project.

KANU insiders were rebelling against the project too. I too began withdrawing my support from KANU. Our caucusing did not have clear leadership, however. We had more roundtable situations with people caucusing in different circles. Moi had underrated the backlash. He had imagined that there would be many presidential candidates like what happened in the past and his candidate would sail through. He little expected that people would rally behind Mwai Kibaki. At a meeting that was held at a Nairobi hotel, it was decided that we would now pull out of KANU and allow Moi to go on with his project if he did not allow us to have a free and fair nominations. I declared my interest in the Presidency, as did Ngala, kalonzo, Odinga and Saitoti.

President Moi was Cleary unhappy and somewhat shocked at the open defiance of his authority. Nothing like this had ever happened to him before. Realizing his strategic mistake somewhat late, he told the public that those who wanted to compete with his candidate should face off with him at Kasarani in what now assumed the tag Kasarini 11 but word got out that Moi would rig the elections so we decided to decamp and look for an alternative vehicle.

We the rebelling Ministers constituted ourselves into what we called the Rainbow alliance. President Moi now began sacking the rebels and their close political associates. Fred Gumo and Joseph Kamotho were the first to bite the bullet, others left before they could be dismissed. Raila, Saitoti, Moody, Khaniri, Kalonzo among others left Government. I don’t know the details that surrounded Noah Katana Ngala at this time but on 07 August, he dropped out of the rebellion squad to led a Luke warm support to the Uhuru Project. I have never had the occasion to discuss with him what happened. I know however it was difficult for some of us who had walked the journey with President Moi this far, Political miscalculations and mistakes were made. Ngala made his and i would make mine a few days later.