MOI SUCCESSION GAMES PART 1 OF CHAPTER 3
From Musalia Mudavadi book SOARING ABOVE THE STORMS OF PASSION
December 1997 was an epochal moment. It was the curtain raiser for the Moi succession seeing the constitution had now limited the presidency to two terms of five years. I had been under a lot of pressure to deliver Western province to KANU in the subsequent by- election and now the pressure was on again to retain the seats.
The Moi succession had a sense moment, i would occasionally have meetings with Wamalwa at my residence. Some leaders in the opposition would also come to seek for financial support. The visits were mostly at night, if Moi knew i was assisting them, he would have been unhappy. They also feared of being accused of being KANU moles in the opposition.
The Presidential candidates gave quite a good account of themselves. Ngilu was gaining currency as a woman candidate, Kibaki kept looking very formidable, Raila had Luo Nyanza under the wraps. The 1997 elections were overall very violent, Our party KANU was losing support and becoming restless. Our supporters and some of the leaders started getting very violent . Unfortunately every where they did this, it became difficult for us to sell the party.
The President was now talking about cooperation with opposition parties. Raila Odinga NDP became one of the focal points, they began negotiating their way into Government. Moi was playing his cards close to the chest. KANU insiders wondered what he was offering them and what it would mean to the insiders. It was clear that people like George Saitoti and Joseph Kamotho began feeling eased out. Was Moi going to retire. After the elections of 1997, Moi did not name his Vice President.
Pressure began mounting on the President to name a Vice President. The President eventually gave in to the pressure and re appointed Saitoti the Vice President while he was on the road somewhere in LImuru, returning to Nairobi He reminded the nation that the appointment would not vary their lives in any meaningful way. “Mnafikiri Saitoti ataongeza sufuria ngapi ya ugali kwa nyumba zenu”. It was clear Moi was a troubled man.
At about this time, Mark Too resigned from his position as a nominated member of parliament. The resignation was announced on the evening KBC news bulletin at 7.00P.M. At the same time, the nomination of Uhuru Kenyatta to Parliament was announced. The President had gone a step further to appoint Kenyatta, Minister for Local Government.. The MP for Eldoret North William Ruto was made Assistant Minister in the office of the President. The appointments were curtain raisers of things to come.
At this point, a merger between KANU and NDP looked most imminent. The emergence of Raila at the centre stage troubled many. What worried his adversaries was his possible ascent to power. The Kamotho- Saitoti axis was extremelly ill at ease. Throughout 2001, they resisted efforts to merge the parties arguing that KANU constitution did not have provisions for mergers. However, Moi overrode them, leading us to a joint National Delegates conference with NDP on 18th March 2002 at Kasarani.
The die was cast, Saitoti and Kamotho were routed out of the centre of power in KANU as the new political kids took the block by storm. At Kasarani, katana Ngala, Kalonzo Musyoka, and Uhuru Kenyatta each came in unopposed to represent Coast, Eastern and Central Provinces each. Lugari MP Cyrus Jirongo and i competed for the position that had been set aside for the Western Province. In the end my quiet diplomacy paid dividends. Elders and delegates prevailed upon Cyrus Jirongo to withdraw his candidature, which he did at a press conference shortly before the Kasarani meeting
. Other notable outcomes were that Nicholas Biwott became the new Organizing Secretary, William of Rift Valley became Director of elections while Otieno Kajwang became Director of Legal Affairs. The rest was now a focus on the Moi Succession to State House side by side with the rise of Raila odinga was that of Uhuru Kenyatta.