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A VETERAN Kenyan politician, Kihika Kimani, had a dream of seeing his two wives and himself in Parliament next year. It ended in misery recently when the trio was trounced in the ruling party, Kanu primary elections. Kimani garnered a paltry 83 votes, his wife, Marium got 280 votes in another constituency while his second wife fared the worst securing only one vote, her own, to complete the spectacular ridicule. In another constituency, father and son tussled for the Kanu nomination. The political duel between Mr Willy Komen and his son, David Kimuge had ignited a bitter feud which attracted tremendous interest. They both lost the race. The result showed that they would have won the party nomination had they combined forces. The son was so angry that he confronted his father whom he accused of having misled his supporters that he had withdrawn from the race. He ended up with a bloody nose. Mr Komen has threatened to repossess a 60-acre piece of land which he gave his son for challenging him at the poll. In yet another constituency, two brothers fought for nomination. The Sirma brothers’ rivalry dates back to several years following disagreement over the estate of their late father. The elder Sirma, an assistant minister won the fight. Another aspiring parliamentarian Mr Charles Keter had his wife and children taken away from him when he decided to contest against his brother-in-law, Charles Kirui. He beat the brother-in-law and will represent Kanu in the parliamentary elections. Several families have been torn apart by political rivalry as political temperatures have soared in Kenya with candidates fighting to represent their parties in this month’s elections. Primary elections for the two main parties in this east African country, Kanu and National Rainbow Coalition have been marred by violence, intimidation, bribery, vote-buying and rigging. The ruling party, Kanu, which has been hit by high level defections following the handpicking by President Moi of Uhuru Kenyatta, son of the founding father of Kenya, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, as his successor is now steadying its ship to face its opponents in the December 27 polls. Kenyatta is a relative newcomer to the political stage. In fact he has never won an election. But he has three things in his favour. His age, family name and has President Moi in his corner. He says he will bring to the country a fresh breeze of youthful zest and boldness to tackle the many problems facing his country. He is telling Kenyan people to judge him on his merit, not on the basis of his tribe or his father’s record. He also does not want to be seen as President Moi’s proxy. Kenyatta has less than a month to convince Kenyans that he is his own man and has the qualities to lead them. The National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) on the other side of the political divide is an unwieldy conglomeration of at least 10 parties brought together by a common agenda — to remove Kanu from power. It has, like virtually all opposition parties in Africa, been blinded by the desire to beat Kanu at the ballot that it runs the risk of misreading the mood of the people. The tragedy for the coalition is that voters are now enlightened and will not be baited by parties which offer the removal of sitting governments from power and nothing else. It is even more difficult for those in Narc who have served for years under the Moi government, only leaving when their presidential ambitions were crushed. Some of the leading lights in the opposition are now busy reconditioning themselves and embellishing their track records. They are feigning innocence and blaming everybody else except themselves. But for once the opposition in Kenya has managed to close ranks and field a single presidential candidate, 71-year-old Mwai Kibaki to try and make political history in Kenya. While Kibaki leads Narc the real power driving the opposition party is Raila Odinga who could not thrust himself in the forefront because of the nature of Kenyan politics. Ethnicity plays a huge role and by having Kibaki, a Kikuyu to challenge Kenyatta, another Kikuyu, Narc is attempting to split the big Kikuyu vote. But Kibaki was beaten twice before by President Moi. He has also served as vice president and finance minister for five years. When Kibaki was comfortable in the Cabinet in 1991, he publicly opposed the introduction of multipatyism. He is now known as the man who said "Trying to remove Kanu from power is like trying to cut a baobab tree with a razor blade." Twelve years down the line he is now trying to do what he thought was impossible. The man who defeated him before, President Moi, has enthralled Kenyans for decades because of his craftiness and unpredictability. He has ruled the country for the last 24 years and cannot stand for yet another term. A Kenyan columnist, Mutahi Nguyi writing in The Nation newspaper says President Moi has always compared elections with the traditional art of wooing a girl. He says although his wooing methods go back to the 1940’s, in the last two elections he has ended up with the girl. He now wants the girl to be inherited by Uhuru Kenyatta. But Kibaki also wants to snatch the girl, a feat he thought impossible a decade ago. He is hoping his opposition coalition will profit from the euphoria of change sweeping through Nairobi at least. But whether the euphoria will translate into votes for the opposition is a subject of hot debate. Judging by what transpired during the primaries Kenyans see two Kanus fighting for political power. Narc bosses exempted themselves from the nomination battles in a move which was largely seen as abuse of democracy. The political mood in this country is difficult to judge with any degree of accuracy. When the two protagonists presented their nomination papers on November 19, 2002 to officially kick-off their campaigns, tens of thousands poured into the streets of Nairobi in what was supposed to be a test of strength. Both Kibaki and Kenyatta soon after handing in their papers addressed huge tension filled rallies which brought Nairobi to a standstill. People were keen to see which of the two would draw the largest crowd. A sea of humanity was seen at both rallies. Considering the high political stakes the two campaign rallies were largely peaceful. A person was however, stabbed to death when opposing supporters clashed. Ten people were injured in the violent confusion while a woman lost both eyes when she was hit by flying glass from a shattered window. While the presidential nomination was largely peaceful, the nominations for both Narc and Kanu were marked by chaos, confusion and general disregard for democracy. Fights and abrupt defections characterised the exercise as some heavyweights from both parties were defeated by newcomers. The busiest places during the nomination time were the headquarters of the two parties as losing candidates stormed in to protest. In one case the Narc headquarters was attacked and its windows shattered when a gang demanded that a losing candidate be declared winner. Physical violence was also widespread. A former MP was shot outside his house by a hired gang of six men. The gang also stole money he intended to pay his election agents. A one time assistant minister, Bahati Semo had his left eye gouged out in a political fight. Two men were also stabbed to death during Narc nominations. But physical violence is only a small part of the dirty tricks in Kenyan politics. Psychological torture and scare tactics are seen as routine in this country. Candidates usually wake up to find their verandas smeared with cow dung and blood in some cases. If one is not scared then hired thugs park at your gate and sound off alarms in the middle of the night. Relatives are bought and turned against you. Some even invest richly detailed stories about rampant infidelity of opponents. The Mulindwas
communication group
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