Followers

Monday, January 14, 2008

ODM Works Hard To Prevent Kaparo's 4th Term As SNO

After being 'awarded' presidential votes by Samuel Kivuitu, President Kibaki through his PNU party and affiliates are due to make another 'award' to Mr. Francis Ole Kaparo, as Kenya's 'permanent' Speaker of the National Assembly (SNO).

Information reaching this blogger indicates that the the vote count for the race for the speakers seat 'is already out in the open', in the same style and manner as when Kibaki was sworn-in at the presidential polls whereby Kivuitu irregularly declared him president prematurely in a secluded room somewhere in KBC studios. Indeed, the leaked SNO result shows a very close contest - much closer than the presidential polls, with less than 5 individuals separating the contestants.

Although the young Emuhaya MP Kenneth Marende would have been a perfect replacement for the older Francis Kaparo, the power of the incumbency is just too strong for Marende's backers. Perhaps Njoki Ndun'gu would have been an agreeable compromise candidate for both PNU and ODM even if only for the history of parliament as the first woman MP to be elected into the speakers seat. Despite pressure from PNU to drop her bid in favour of Kaparo, Njoki says she is in the race till the end.

In the course of this past week, well known PNU foot soldiers have been busy buying the votes from MPs elect who are only too willing to sell to the highest bidders after a strenuous and expensive campaign period. Some of the foot soldiers have been busy trying to infiltrate the ODM camp with promises of cash and cabinet appointments. With a total of 207 (206 minus the president himself) MPs already elected into the 10th parliament, it will be a very close race, because ODM has 99 MPs plus 3 others from NARC. Assuming all the rest will vote with PNU it is not hard to take a wild guess. Some ODM MPs are rumoured to have already crossed over either by coercion or compromise. It is unclear which ODM MPs have already 'defected' even before being sworn-in and it is also unclear which MPs Njoki has convinced to vote for her.

Unless ODM/NARC changes the tide and infiltrates the PNU camp tonight, it is almost a foregone conclusion that Kaparo will start his record 4th term tomorrow by swearing-in MPs and continuing to play to the whims of the executive for the foreseeable future.