The Kalonzo Musyoka You Don't Know Part IV: Cash Problems

Kalonzo Musyoka is among the favorites to wrestle power from president Kibaki in the elections slotted for December this year, but the big question among many Kenyans in the know, is how will the erstwhile Musyoka finance his presidential campaign?

It is an open secret in Kenya that in spite of Musyoka having served in the corrupt, plundering regime of president Moi for over two decades, the former foreign affairs minister did not mint millions like his cabinet colleagues, the likes of Nicholas Biwott and William Ruto who amassed fortunes through corruption. That is propably a plus in his character, only that keen observers insist that the reason was that he was never given the opportunity.

Musyoka is not a rich man by the standards of the political class and his biggest dilemma to date is if he loses the ODM Kenya presidential nominations and decides to contest the presidency as an independent, where will he get the funding to bankroll his presidential campaign?

Kalonzo has been burning the mid night oil as he embarks on several fund raising ventures including establishing a foundation and seeking assistance from foreigners to globetrotting around Europe and America and soliciting funds from Kenyans living abroad.

This has not yielded much fruit as he has found out that Kenyans living abroad do not have that much money so as to spare some for local politicians to make their dreams come true. In a visit to America last year, Musyoka was taken to task by Kenyans who told him on the face that they thought the Kalonzo Musyoka foundation was to assist the less fortunate and not a vehicle for raising funds for his presidential campaign. Musyoka had asked his compatriots to donate generously to his foundation as he launches his presidential bid.

The man who has been given the Herculean task to coordinate Musyoka's fundraising abroad is one professor Timothy Kaloki who was also the brains behind Musyoka's recent blue print on how his presidency will change the lives of Kenyans who are wallowing in abject poverty and squalor at the expense of the political class who earn obscene salaries and allowances drawn from public coffers.

Musyoka could boast of lots of foreign friends he made while he was foreign affairs minister in both Moi's and Kibaki's government but these contacts are yet to translate into cash as the election date nears.

Locally too, Kalonzo could boast of having very rich friends who could boost his campaign kitty but they are as limited as they are few and he will need more rich men to believe that he is capable of wrestling power from Kibaki who has so many rich friends that he could easily raise millions of dollars locally without breaking into a sweat. More so because he is the incumbent.

Among those who will surely contribute to Musyoka's campaign kitty and are worth mentioning is lawyer Mutula Kilonzo who made a fortune through Moi;s corruption networks as he was a lawyer to the former president and he is among the richest men in Kenya today. Another one is international gemstone dealer Johnson Muthama who rose from being a househelp cook to a gemstone dealer who quickly mastered the trade and made a tidy fortune from it.

These two men are from Kalonzo's Kamba community and they will surely back him as they are already showing signs of doing. Both see themselves as benefiting immensely from a Musyoka presidency.

Billionaire businessman John Harun Mwau is also from Musyoka's community but the two have not being seeing eye to eye for the past decade but since there are no permanent enemies in politics, Mwau may just choose to forget the past and finance Musyoka if he is convinced that he could be the next president of Kenya. A reader in the Mashada forum has already claimed as much , although we are yet to verify this as being a fact. The truth is that given the bitter past of the two, it is much more likely that Mwau will fight Kalonzo, rather than support him.

Winston Churchill once said 24 hours can be a very long time in politics and if this is true, then Kalonzo Musyoka could be having more than enough time to look for the necessary funds as the elections are over 11 months away.