Popular evangelist Pius Muiru was at the Bomas of Kenya on Saturday to re-launch his own party—the Kenya People's Party (KPP) and his bid for the presidency. His earlier effort under RPP had encountered some serious problems with officials of the party denying that Muiru was their presidential candidate.
And again, the evangelist displayed a lot of political naivety and arrogance that will no doubt be a major stumbling block in his bid for political power.
In a speech that he painstakingly read out amid cheers from the crowd, Pastor Muiru took the opportunity to answer back critics saying that it was time for "dirty" Kenyan politics to be "cleaned" by the church. He was of course referring to his candidature. The implication was that there was nothing wrong with his retaining his position as the head of his church organization while at the same time lunging into competitive politics.
The pastor is no doubt used to support at the pulpit from diehard supporters, but politics is a very different ball game. One key skill for any national politician to have is the ability to allow your candidature and ideas to seep in slowly into the minds of the electorate. For this reason is would have been prudent for Muiru's KPP to hold off their announcement of their presidential candidate. Instead they even went a step further and announced Muiru's Vice Presidential running mate. One Eugene Wamalwa, brother to the late Vice President Wamalwa Kijana. The criteria for his selection are not clear, since he is not a known member of Muiru's huge evangelical ministry. But there is no doubt that Muiru handlers are eyeing the huge Luhya vote, which is still undecided amid calls for Luhya unity and for the community to vote as a block.
It is obvious that the church vote in the country is significant, as was proved by the referendum on the proposed new constitution, which received some stiff opposition from mainstream churches. However then, they were united for a common cause against what they saw as a common enemy. This is hardly the situation in competitive politics for the presidency and it will be virtually impossible for one pastor to unite all other churches under himself. This will be the huge challenge that Muiru's bid for the highest office in the land is bound to encounter.
A Kenyan safari of a lifetime at a price you will not believe.
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