Kenya: Could He Be the Breath of Fresh Air the Country Needs?

Nairobi Star (Nairobi)

Dauti Kahura

2 July 2011

The other day, walking in uptown Nairobi with a lady friend of mine, we spotted Peter Kenneth in his green Range Rover Vogue. “Wow!” marvelled my friend, “There he is…and so cute!”

There is no doubt that the dashing the MP for Gatanga and assistant minister of state for Planning, National Development and Vision 2030 has managed – unwittingly perhaps – to sell himself as a brand that make women’s heads turn.

But the question that is uppermost in most Kenyans’ minds is whether Kenneth will wow them as a political brand as he unveils his long-time-in-coming presidential manifesto and credentials.

That the MP for Gatanga intends to run for president next year is an open secret. What has not been in the public realm has been his official pronouncement. Accused even by his close associates of being too precautionary and a chronic procrastinator, Kenneth is believed to now be ready to publicly tell Kenyans that he actually desires the most coveted political seat in the country. If some of his closest strategists and minders are to be believed, the only thing holding him back from making the announcement is the fact that the actual date of the General Election is yet to be settled.

His campaign strategists say there are three schools of thought regarding the actual date of the next year’s presidential and general elections. The first one is that of Charles Nyachae’s Constitution Implementation Commission (CIC), which gives the date as August 14, 2012, according to the new constitution. The second suggested date is “sometime in December 2012,” according to Isaak Hassan’s Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC).

The third date, proposed by some parliamentarians, including Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Mutula Kilonzo is April 2013. “Whatever the date, he must now officially come out in the open to announce his candidature,” observed one his confidants. “There is palpable anxiety among his core supporters, who are beginning to become indifferent due to the ‘fatigue’ of waiting for long.”

But his handlers have not told Kenyans the real reason why Kenneth, who was supposed to have officially launched his presidential bid at the end May, has not done so.

According to informed sources close to him, two issues are responsible for his dilly-dallying: The Uhuru Kenyatta and the ICC factor, and the party factor.

From the time in December last year that International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo named the ‘Ocampo Six’, including Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Uhuru Kenyatta, that he intends to prosecute at The Hague, Kenneth’s presidential programme and plan of action had to change significantly. “The indictment of Uhuru by the ICC, which spontaneously cast him as a political martyr among the Kikuyu people has been like a bereavement, with people being asked to grieve with him in his anguish,” said one of Kenneth’s close advisers.”It would have been ill-advised and ill-timed for a fellow tribesman to go ahead and announce his presidential ambitions. The backlash would have been instant and Kenneth would have lost all the political goodwill he had been cultivating over the years. He, thus, was careful not to find himself in this awkward situation-that of being seen as being ‘gleeful’ or seemingly deriving pleasure from seeing a political rival suffer.”

Cautious to a fault, Kenneth has been pondering which political party he can use a vehicle to launch his candidature. Two political parties have been touted as possibilities.

One is the Kenya National Congress (KNC), a party that Kenneth used to test the waters last September in the Juja by-election, which was won by Narc-Kenya’s William Kabogo who had a real scare from KNC’s Alice Wahome who came second.The other party that has been wooing Kenneth is the Social Democratic Party (SDP), a party that is on the rebound and that will be remembered as having fielded Charity Ngilu in 1997, as the first serious woman presidential candidate. The party has been revived by erstwhile members of parliament such as Mutahi Kagwe, who has declared his interest in the Nyeri county senate seat.

Other former MPs linked to SDP include Mukhisa Kituyi, former MP for Kimilili, Kipruto arap Kirwa, former MP for Cherangani and Raphael Tuju, former MP for Rarieda. To throw a spanner into the works, Charity Ngilu, who is the chairperson of Narc, is subtly allegedly being linked again to her former SDP party.

But Ngilu’s lawyer and confidant Fidelis Nguli says nothing could be further from the truth. “Ngilu is busy re-invigorating her party Narc and very soon the party shall be holding party elections. Starting August we shall popularise the party countrywide. She herself will be running for president.”

Another name that is being closely linked to Kenneth’s presidential ambitions is Abdikadir Mohammed, the MP for Mandera Central and chairman of the Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee (CIOC).

Abdikadir’s relationship with Kenneth goes back to the run-up to the 2007 elections, where a group of like-minded young and upcoming politicians who believed they had what it takes to change the political fortunes of this country would meet. Now, Kenneth’s networking among the legislators is believed to revolve around 55 MPs from across the political party divide.

The re-election of Dr Bonny Khalwale in the recent Ikolomani by-election is being cited as an example of Kenneth’s capacity to create political friendship far afield. It is whispered in the corridors of power, it is a stated fact that Khalwale has Kenneth to thank for partly financing his comeback campaign.

Kenneth’s closest associates say he may settle on SDP as his party of choice, and with the support of like-minded former MPs, who are intent on capturing political seats in 2012. “Once we are certain of the election date, we want to embark on a countrywide campaign that will take us to every corner of the country,” says a member who sits in one of the three-tier strategy groups that are currently working for Kenneth. The member points out that an effective political campaign is one that is executed within nine to 12 months.

Three different groups have been working towards Kenneth’s presidential bid. The first and core one is the strategic team that consists of professionals, senior influential state bureaucrats, wealthy businessmen and entrepreneurs. This group, which is also in charge of finances, meets on a rotational basis in different boardrooms, depending on who is hosting the meeting. Some of the country’s topflight private companies’ CEOs and influential PSs sit in these meetings.

The second group is the County Forum. It has been meeting for the last two years and has representatives from all the 47 counties. It meets once a month at Parklands Sport Club. The third is the group of MPs that meets independently at their convenience. The setting up of the Kenneth’s presidential campaign centre at the Mayfair Centre, Upper Hill is supposed to, among other things, up the stakes as the secretariat has already picked its campaign slogan, “Breath of Fresh Air: Brighter Kenya.”

From these headquarters, Kenneth’s technical team will continue sending weekly bulletins, which he uses to communicate to his legion of followers through social media site Facebook.

But more importantly, the team will solicit for funds, Obama style, using the Internet to reach the huge Kenyan Diaspora, which is eager to contribute to a worthy presidential bid. The secretariat would like to believe that Kenneth’s presidential candidature currently enjoys the most popularity in the Diaspora and hopes to raise billions of shillings.

Kenneth’s candidature is premised on the fact that he is ideally the most acceptable Kikuyu candidate to Kikuyus and to Kenyans in general. “Kenneth has curved a niche in the political arena as a leader who holds the sway for a middle ground in his Central Kenya and therefore would be the most sellable political product across Kenya, come 2012,” argues a confidant. “It is this acceptability that we intend to brand to the rest of Kenyans-a brand that has not only been bought at home, but also sought after in the rest of Kenya.”

Yet not all of the potential voters from Central Kenya, for example, believe that Kenneth is the preferred candidate of moderate Kikuyus wherever they are. Kamau Mbugua, a city lawyer who hails from Gatundu, posits, “Kenneth is a good man, because he is not bad. There is no doubt that his Gatanga constituency, which borders mine-Gatundu South-has done exemplarily well. But that’s just it. Kenneth lacks presidential oomph.”

Mbugua, who himself is eyeing the Gatundu South seat, says that Kenneth must give him a sound reason why he should vote for him as his president. “What sets him apart from the rest of the pack? What is his story? In the commercial world, recognisable brands all over the world are known to fight to stay relevant and attuned to people’s tastes. Peter Kenneth must lose the modesty and get rid of the inhibitions.”

On two recent occasions, one in Machakos and the other in Murang’a, Kenneth has warned Kenyans to be wary of presidential candidates whose constituency development record is anything but good. In Machakos, Kenneth alluded to the fact the some people from Central Kenya were interested in the presidency, but had nothing show off in their constituency. “Even if anyone takes their battle to my backyard, I will not be afraid to compete with them,” he said in an apparent stab at Uhuru Kenyatta.

In Murang’a, Kenneth talked of MPs whose constituencies had evolved into tourist attractions because of the biting and abject poverty among the constituents. “Some people have been in Parliament for 30 years, but the poverty in their constituencies has become a tourist attraction,” he said, alluding to Prime Minister Raila Odinga. “We cannot have foreigners touring slums to view poverty.”

Yet, Kenneth’s eschewing of confrontation and controversy is a theme oft cited by both foe and friend. Eric Nduma, a Nairobi IT systems analyst, despite being a big supporter of Kenneth is nevertheless bothered by the fact he does not seem to grab political initiatives and opportunities that sometime present themselves to him, preferring instead to retreat into his cocoon and hence look meek.

The consultant notes that meekness has never won anyone political plaudits. “Even Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, who I know Kenneth admires, have had to come out openly and put up a steady fight, when the occasion called for it. Politics is not for the meek,” he says. But Nairobi businessman, Ahmed Mansoor, who also schooled at Starehe Boys Centre like Kenneth, and supports him, is happy with his progress. “I am aware that Kenneth is seen as a person who keeps away from confrontations and controversies, but that is how we like it. Our political landscape is full of macho politicians who oftentimes court publicity to stay relevant and in the limelight. That is not the kind of brand we would like Kenneth to showcase.”

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