There are several presidential candidates in the ODM-Kenya but if the events of the past week are anything to go by, the only people who matter in the mass movement are Kalonzo Musyoka and the de facto leader Raila Odinga.
In a press conference yesterday, Kalonzo told the media that he regularly had breakfast meetings with Odinga when they felt that party affairs were not moving in the desired direction and they often consulted on various issues but these meetings have previously not been made public.
In reality this means that there is no ODM without Kalonzo and Raila and as long as the two remain together and other presidential aspirants leave the movement, the unity required to eject Kibaki from State house will still be intact.
In fact, those in ODM know that the race for the ODM-Kenya nomination is a two-horse race between the big two and that one of them will end up being the party's presidential candidate. Aspirants like Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto who also have considerable support among Kenyans have already been dismissed in the minds of many ODM-Kenya die-hards.
Past opinion polls have showed that Kalonzo is more popular than Raila though many have dismissed the opinion poll as a sham.
It is a waste of time that William Ruto is using his ill-gotten wealth to go round the country soliciting for support in his presidential bid under an ODM-Kenya ticket but those in the know say he wants to show Kalonzo and Raila that he is a serious contender for the top seat hence he should be rewarded well if a united ODM-Kenya forms the next government.
The man who is keeping everybody guessing is Uhuru Kenyatta as he does not appear convincing enough as an ODM presidential candidate. For instance he has not been traveling countrywide to sell his presidential bid to the people and chances are that he might not after all contest the presidency this time round.
For Dr Julia Ojiambo, Najib Balala and Ms Nazlin Omar, they are there to show that the presidential nominations in ODM-Kenya is democratic but the advantage they have is that if ODM forms the next government , they will most probably get cabinet posts.
Nation media group on fire.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Narc-Kenya Puts Off Elections Yet Again
The party which president Kibaki intends to contest the presidency with has pushed forward its party polls from this weekend to March 3 as acrimony and confusion was experienced countrywide over the procedure of establishing electoral panels.
Sharp differences arose between incumbent MPs and aspirants with the latter accusing the former of using their influence as legislators to manipulate the process in bid to throw democracy out of the window.
It is common knowledge that current MP's aligned to the government are doing everything to ensure that they get the Narc-Kenya nomination as this, they think, will save them a lot of money for campaigning as they look forward to the Kibaki administration to substantially fund their campaigns.
And again, there are those who come from central Kenya and the Mount Kenya region who know that securing the party ticket will mean automatic access to parliament as people who live in this areas will automatically vote for those in Kibaki's party without giving it a second thought—or so it is assumed.
However, those who will attempt to vie on Narc-K ticket in Nyanza and to a large extent, the Rift valley will be committing political suicide. Still this may not be of major concern of greed comes into play, and many contestants will be on a money-making mission.
If the current political situation is anything to go by, over 60% of Kibaki's cabinet ministers will lose their parliamentary seats and he himself could lose the presidency whether he contests under Narc-K or not so he should be busy trying to right the numerous wrongs that his administration has committed in the past four years including entrenching tribalism deeper into the Kenyan society (mainly through appointments made) and condoning high level corruption.
Sharp differences arose between incumbent MPs and aspirants with the latter accusing the former of using their influence as legislators to manipulate the process in bid to throw democracy out of the window.
It is common knowledge that current MP's aligned to the government are doing everything to ensure that they get the Narc-Kenya nomination as this, they think, will save them a lot of money for campaigning as they look forward to the Kibaki administration to substantially fund their campaigns.
And again, there are those who come from central Kenya and the Mount Kenya region who know that securing the party ticket will mean automatic access to parliament as people who live in this areas will automatically vote for those in Kibaki's party without giving it a second thought—or so it is assumed.
However, those who will attempt to vie on Narc-K ticket in Nyanza and to a large extent, the Rift valley will be committing political suicide. Still this may not be of major concern of greed comes into play, and many contestants will be on a money-making mission.
If the current political situation is anything to go by, over 60% of Kibaki's cabinet ministers will lose their parliamentary seats and he himself could lose the presidency whether he contests under Narc-K or not so he should be busy trying to right the numerous wrongs that his administration has committed in the past four years including entrenching tribalism deeper into the Kenyan society (mainly through appointments made) and condoning high level corruption.
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