Election 2002
Sunday, December 8, 2002 

Calm has returned to the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) after its stormy parliamentary and civic nominations. It also follows a rather strange standoff between Ford-Kenya chairman Michael Kijana Wamalwa and his fellow top Narc leaders and allegations that another leading Narc light, Mr Raila Odinga, is out to undermine Ford-Kenya and wrench the vice-presidency from Mr Wamalwa should Narc form the next government.

In a bid to publicly demonstrate their unity, the Narc luminaries this week appeared at various functions together. And each of them took every opportunity to stress that the party's unity is intact, just when Mr Wamalwa and some of his former Ford-K MPs appeared to be uneasy partners in the grand opposition coalition.

Mr Wamalwa, who only two weeks ago launched a scathing attack on his colleagues, stood on the steps of Nairobi Hospital, after visiting the party's injured presidential candidate, Mr Mwai Kibaki, and declared that he is "steadfast" in the "united opposition assault on Kanu."

His colleague from Western Province, immediate Funyula MP Moody Awori, also emphasised that the leaders were together and "will comb all parts of the country for votes."

Mr Awori declared: "Politics can be a tough business, and when you've got someone and a formula that can get things done, you stick to that."

Signs of unease in Narc were evident following Mr Kijana's public insistence that the party's top leadership had made "costly mistakes in the nomination exercise."

The Ford-K chairman criticised the decision to nominate members of the Narc Summit directly and favour some candidates, saying this could cost the party dearly.

He described the Summit, of which he is a member, as "an illegal outfit with no mandate to decide for the voters who should be elected to Parliament."

His protest was followed by what looked like a coordinated attack on Mr Odinga. Former Cherangany Kanu MP Kipruto arap Kirwa accused Mr Odinga of plotting to become vice-president at the expense of Mr Wamalwa in a Narc government.

Earlier, former Kanduyi MP Wafula Wamunyinyi had alleged that Mr Odinga had planted parliamentary aspirants in Ford-K strongholds in a bid to secure more seats and eventually be appointed the VP.

But this week, the leaders played down the fears that such outbursts would leave the party divided and unable to tackle Kanu. Narc leader and former Cabinet minister William ole Ntimama said: "We are just being democratic in the party. We are all fighters and we love a good fight. But we are united and we will go forward like that."

Another veteran politician, Mr John Keen, defended Mr Odinga against the accusation that he was plotting to oust Mr Wamalwa.

"Raila is not planning to take anybody's job. In any case, there are no jobs to be taken. Until the Constitution is changed, there will be only one VP. That will be decided by Mr Kibaki if Narc forms the next government. The whole saga is just meant to cause a rift. It is Kanu planting the discontent, using media sympathetic to it," he alleged.

Mr Keen described Mr Odinga and those who quit Kanu with him as an asset to Narc. "Narc is a creation of the people. It's the people who demanded that the opposition unite. Raila is not looking for the vice-presidency. He is looking for the party's success. But there are people in Narc who have a typical Kenyan trait; people with neither policy nor ideology. They will interfere with principled guys just so they can be in Parliament and earn money. They are the people causing ripples."

But Kanu quickly seized on the outburst from Ford-Kenya circles as proof that Narc may self-destruct, with Energy Minister Chris Okemo predicting that the wrangling was paving the way for Kanu in the Western Province.

Mr Okemo, under pressure together with Vice-President Musalia Mudavadi to deliver the Luhya vote, played on the Kirwa and Wamunyinyi theme, claiming that Narc wanted to ditch Mr Wamalwa.

But while Mr Odinga and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) appeared to be the target, people close to Mr Wamalwa said the fear had something to do with the rising image of Mr Awori as an alternative Luhya leader. 

"Moody (Awori) is pushing for a higher post than was originally agreed," a politician sympathetic to Mr Wamalwa said. "Awori wants to raise his stakes. He wants to be deputy VP but he knows he can't be if Wamalwa is VP. He is, therefore, struggling for the fall of Mr Wamalwa."

Some of Mr Wamalwa's allies also feared that he would have to fight really hard to retain the Saboti seat.

 "We fear that Wamalwa's enemies in Narc may have fielded candidates against him in Saboti. We want Mr Kibaki to come out and declare that Wamalwa is still his running mate. If the confusion continues, the Luhya vote may go in all directions," one said.

But Mr Odinga dismissed this a "naive thinking", saying "only a mad politician or one without a brain would think of fielding a candidate against Mr Wamalwa in Saboti.

"We came together to show the country our commitment to the principles that will move this country forward again. We will stick together," Mr Odinga said.

But Mr Wamalwa's allies painted him as a caged man, increasingly wary of the rising stature of Kimilili's Dr Mukhisa Kituyi and Kwanza's Dr Noah Wekesa in Narc.

Before he fired his salvo at the Summit, Mr Wamalwa had been holed up in Western Province while fellow Narc Summit leaders were in Nairobi, drumming up support for the party. 

SDP's Makadara candidate Ms Yvonne Khamati, a close ally of Wamalwa's who defected from Narc after failing to win its nomination, claimed that the Saboti MP was in Western Province "trying to ensure only popular candidates won the Narc ticket." 

Ms Khamati added: "Wamalwa has been gaining ground and has come out as the clear Luhya leader. His influence has extended to Trans Nzoia. It would be foolhardy to replace him with someone else."

On Thursday, with Mr Wamalwa out of the country on official Narc business, a team of loyalists headed for Kitale to keep his campaign for the Saboti seat going. 

Elsewhere, failed Ford-K aspirants have complained that nominations were tailored to favour LDP candidates. But Mr Sospeter Odeke Ojaamong, the Narc candidate for Amagoro constituency, dismissed the claims as baseless, arguing that when Kanu supporters defected en masse, they moved to the LDP by choice, not to Ford-Kenya.

"It is Odinga's courage that had won the hearts of some people in the province. Everyone wants to be in the LDP and you could not stop them. All we must do is direct their energy towards a Narc victory."

He accused Mr Wamunyinyi of trying to split Narc, which, he noted, was firmly rooted in the province.

"The LDP has penetrated the Ford-K strongholds in Western Province because of its popularity. There are no ill motives. We are all in Narc," Mr Ojaamong said.

Other Luhya leaders have accused those crying for Mr Wamalwa of trying to use his name to galvanise votes for themselves.

A Narc official from western Kenya, who asked not to be named, said: "It is the same story even in Nyanza. Unpopular politicians are invoking Raila's and Wamalwa's names to win support even if that destroys the party. In Nyanza, they labelled people into those supporting Raila and those who do not. In Western Province, we are beginning to see a group out to create and fight imaginary enemies of Mr Wamalwa so that they can win sympathy votes." 

The dissent in Narc has led to speculation that Kanu may be trying to penetrate the party and split the Luhya vote.

Immediate former Mbita MP Otieno Kajwang, who is Narc's legal adviser, said: "The party has information that Kanu, using state intelligence, is running a propaganda campaign to create an illusionary rivalry between Raila and Wamalwa."

Mr Kajwang said Mr Wamalwa had failed to put the record straight, giving the impression that he supported the allegations of Mr Wamunyinyi and Mr Kirwa.

But speaking after visiting Mr Kibaki in hospital on Wednesday, Mr Wamalwa said he had been missing from Narc activities "for no reason other than that I was just unwell."

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