City polls expose supremacy wars

The results of Monday’s by-elections in Thika and Nairobi appear to have exposed supremacy battles in political parties especially in central Kenya.

With the elections over, Martha Karua’s Narc-Kenya wrestled two out of the PNU seats. There were three House seats up for grabs, and this may have emboldened the Gichugu MP into doing battle with

Deputy Prime minister Uhuru Kenyatta and assistant Planning minister Peter Kenneth in local politics.

The elections also focused attention on the role of Mungiki founder Maina Njenga and his possible influence ahead of the 2012 elections.

Mr Njenga who claims he is a born again Christian, galvanised youth support for ODM’s Bishop Margaret Wanjiru, which provided the swing vote that saw her victorious at time when sections of the party seemed reluctant to campaign for her.

The flamboyant and well-oiled ex-Mungiki chief commands near fanatic following of the youth in central Kenya, Laikipia, Nakuru and city slums.

Mr Njenga, an ally of Prime Minister Raila Odinga, is bitter with PNU politicians, especially those with links in central province. He accuses them abetting extra-judicial killings of young people from the region and blames them for his five-year jail term.

Mr Njenga has vowed to campaign for the removal of the old guard from community leadership in the next elections.
“The sons of home guards must give way to the children of the Mau Mau freedom fighters,” he says.

Some politicians from the region, grudgingly acknowledge, that he may be a factor in the next election.

“He cannot be ignored any more,” says Kinangop MP David Ngugi. “But I wish he was not a factor.”

Rivalry among the three MPs was displayed in Juja where they removed their gloves to vigorously support different candidates.

Ms Karua’s party candidate, William Kabogo handed Mr George Thuo a humiliating defeat.

Emerged third

Mr Kenyatta had thrown his resources behind Mr Thuo, the former joint government chief whip who emerged third after Ms Alice Ng’ang’a.

Ms Ng’ang’a of the Kenya National Congress who excited the campaign with her enthusiasm, youth and sobriety had the support of Mr Kenneth.

Mr Thuo’s defeat is likely to be construed as an embarrassment for Mr Kenyatta, and a dent on his influence on central Kenya politics.

Ms Ng’ang’a impressive 24, 326 to Mr Thuo with 19,366 could be a boost for Mr Kenneth, the Gatanga MP who is believed to harbour presidential ambitions like Ms Karua and Mr Kenyatta.

But the Gichugu MP may be perceived as the major beneficiary, in her attempts to exert influence over PNU whose ties she cut last year as well as in central Kenya, where critics project her as light-weight.

“Amen,” she declared on the social network Twitter when it was apparent that Mr Kabogo and Makadara’s Mike Mbuvi (Sonko) had won to add to the party’s six seats in the House.

“It was a show of confidence in Ms Karua who has been consistent and principled,” says Mr Ngugi.

Political greenhorn

However, there is the argument that Mr Kabogo and the Makadara political greenhorn are self-made and would have sailed through irrespective of party choice.

In the 2002 election, Mr Kabogo, for instance, was elected on little known Sisi Kwa Sisi party, at a time when most of Central Kenya had gone Narc, President Kibaki’s party.

The Juja MP-elect, draws his key support from the youth, mainly from wage earners in the informal sector, especially matatu, and boda boda operators and Jua Kali artisans.

“In Juja, it was Kabogo’s own work, while in Makadara it was the youth who delivered the seat to their peer,” says Mr David Murathe, former Gatanga MP and Mr Kenyatta’s aide.

“If it was about Narc-Kenya, how come the party’s candidate in Starehe managed only 680 votes, yet Ms Karua campaigned heavily for him?”

And in Makadara, Sonko, who had first sought the ODM ticket, attracted fanatical from sprawling voter rich slums dotting the constituency, the poorest in Nairobi.

But Mr Ngugi and Mr Murathe delinked Mr Kenyatta from the chief whip’s defeat.

“The defeat was purely Mr Thuo’s and his relationship with his constituents,” says Mr Ngugi.

Mr Murathe says despite strong indications that it was going to be an uphill task for Mr Thuo to recapture his seat, Mr Kenyatta opted to stand by him.

“We knew that George (Thuo) had disconnected with the ground, but his party (Kanu) chairman could not abandon him,” he says.

Mr Murathe argued that Mr Kenyatta had a history of standing by his allies. “He stood with former President Moi in 1997 and even lost his seat, and then Finance minister Amos Kimunya when he was under siege in the Grand Regency (now Laico Regency) affair.”

The former MP accuses top PNU officials such as chairman George Saitoti and secretary-general Kiraitu Murungi of keeping off Mr Thuo’s campaign despite him being in the party and joint government chief whip.

Mr Ngugi says the competition among the three “was healthy because central Kenya doesn’t need tribal chieftains like in Luo Nyanza and the Kalenjin nation”

“There are people who have been insisting that we should speak in one voice, but in whose benefit are we supposed to speak as one?”