By SUNDAY NATION Reporter 

Kanu MPs Nick Salat, Gideon Moi and Moses Cheboi: Mr Salat, Eldoret North MP William Ruto, and Eldama Ravine MP Musa Sirma are the key players in the Kanu-LDP alliance initiative.

If there is one party that is thoroughly enjoying the political crisis and the near-paralysis that has continued to grip the ruling coalition Narc since it took over power 10 months ago, that party is Kanu. 

For Kanu, adding more fuel to the Narc fire fits squarely in the party’s strategy of seeking a political fulcrum with which to push Narc closer to the edge of the cliff. 

Talking to Kanu insiders, it comes out clearly that the party is more than happy to urge on the LDP wing of the ruling coalition to continue its journey on a collision course that may, as Kanu hopes, ultimately lead to disintegration of Narc.

The key players in Kanu’s tactic of building a strategic alliance with LDP include some of the former ruling party’s key legislators from Kanu’s Rift Valley Province home base, the Sunday Nation has reliably learnt.

Quite interestingly, when he formally relinquished the Kanu chairmanship before leaving for his US trip last month, former President Moi had cautioned the party against forming alliances of convenience.

In his words, Moi told Kanu officials not to rush to form alliances or work with other political parties without establishing sound political grounds for such alliances.

However, recent events and behind-the-scenes political manoeuvres indicate that not everyone in Kanu may have heeded Moi’s call, and many of the party’s new kids on the block have been keen to fast-track the building of bridges between Kanu and LDP with the covert agenda of using the same to hasten Narc’s disintegration. 

Although Kanu’s hidden hand in Narc’s incessant political problems has been suspected for months, it is only recently that some officials of the former ruling party have come out to openly concede that there could be more than meets the eye in the Kanu-LDP relationship.

Although completely different in terms of outlook and political philosophy, two political entities – Kanu and LDP – have, over the last couple of months, warmed up towards each other to fight what they perceive as the common and dominant enemy: The NAK wing of the ruling coalition.

For Kanu, it is a question of seeking revenge. For LDP, it is a matter of using whatever means possible to get what the Raila Odinga faction of Narc believes was denied to them by the more dominant NAK wing once Kanu was vanquished. Essentially, what is emerging is a convergence of interests between Kanu and LDP. 

Kanu’s strategy of tactically working with LDP came out most clearly about a week ago when some of the party’s more politically significant legislators – Mr Nicholas Biwott (Keiyo South), Mr Henry Kosgey (Tinderet), Mr William Ruto (Eldoret North), Mr Nick Salat (Bomet) and Mr Jimmy Choge (Aldai) – disclosed that Kanu was in the process of teaming up with LDP to push for certain critical constitutional reforms which the Government did not appear keen to see implemented.

The MPs said they had agreed to form an alliance with LDP to "teach the Government a lesson" unless the agitation for a referendum to discuss constitutional reforms was stopped.

What these MPs failed to say is that "teaching the Government a lesson" is both a short- and a long-term political strategy. Kanu insiders say the party sees an alliance with LDP as part of a long-term political strategy that may have much more to do with finding an election winning formula in 2007 than a mere short-term strategy of ''teaching the Government a lesson" over the constitutional review process and referendum talk.

The referendum talk was started by the NAK wing of the ruling coalition in what political observers saw as a bulwark to contain the drive towards the creation of an executive prime minister’s office.

The NAK wing is perceived to be the faction of the ruling party that is in power and appears keen to do whatever it can to maintain the status quo. On the other hand, the LDP side has been agitating for the implementation of a power-sharing formula as espoused in the controversial pre-election Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two groups.

Under the terms of the MoU, Mr Raila Odinga had been destined for the position of an executive prime minister once the new constitution was completed and implemented. However, things took a different direction once Narc beat Kanu in last year’s General Election and President Mwai Kibaki was firmly installed in office.

Issues of the MoU aside, a perfectly clear picture is emerging where some key representatives of LDP have been holding public and some not-so-public meetings with their Kanu counterparts.

It is emerging that the key players in the Kanu-LDP alliance initiative are the Eldoret North MP, Mr Ruto, his Bomet counterpart, Mr Salat, and Mr Musa Sirma of Eldama Ravine. On the LDP side, the central players in the alliance move include vocal legislators Otieno Kajwang (Mbita) and Sospeter Ojaamong (Amagoro).

Knowledgeable sources told the Sunday Nation early this week that the two groups have been holding meetings at Parliament Buildings and other venues to plan their way forward.

One of the more visible results of these meetings has been the upsurge of joint rallies and fund-raisers during which the Kanu and LDP legislators have tended to take a common stand on critical political issues.

Besides the common public rallies and fund-raisers, the two groups of MPs have also adopted a strategy of holding joint press conferences to take a common stand on thorny issues of the day.

One such issue was the murder of Dr Crispin Odhiambo Mbai. It is significant that, in their press statements and general utterances, MPs from the two parties clearly appeared to have a common position. LDP legislators were convinced that the killing of the former University of Nairobi lecturer was political and came short of pointing accusing fingers in the direction of the Government.

A group of Kanu MPs speaking in Eldoret a few days later echoed the same sentiments. 

It is politically significant that the LDP MPs – who technically are part of the Government – had chosen to take sides with the opposition against the very Government their party is an integral part of.

The motivation for LDP’s political intransigence on critical issues – especially the question of prime minister and the Mbai murder saga – comes from two distinct areas: The party’s desire to push for what it believes is its fair share of the leadership cake and discernible goading from Kanu circles.

Although key Kanu political players from the Rift Valley have been busy cavorting with their LDP colleagues, it is significant that the Baringo Central MP, Mr Gideon Moi, has appeared to edge himself out of the scene.

Initially, Mr Moi was one of the more vocal Kanu politicians taking on the Narc Government at every available opportunity but, of late, he has been rather quiet. Granted the Baringo Central MP has been out of the country a couple of times on Parliamentary business, but this does not adequately explain his new ambivalence on political issues he primarily appeared to hold dear.

Mr Moi was initially at the centre of the move to create rapprochement between Kanu and LDP. He is reliably known to have had meetings with key LDP politicians. His role in the Kanu-LDP strategic alliance, however, seems to have diminished for unexplained reasons.

For now, the onus of pushing on with the agenda to use LDP as the Trojan horse in Narc has been left with MPs Ruto, Salat and Keter. Old political hands such as Mr Biwott and Mr Kosgey may say a word here and there, but insiders say they are not anywhere near the driving seat in Kanu’s new power arrangement.

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