If youve not read Hard Tackle, which has broken all records in just two weeks in sales, heres one of the chapters. Share.... 12 RUMBLE IN THE GOVERNMENT They were seated on the seats outside on the lawn, their tempers flaring and gushing up like the geysers of Lake Bogoria, located not too far away. All elected Kanu national party officials were here, waiting for the former President to come from the house so that they could voice their fury. It was a Tuesday morning, the last day of 2002. The Kanu leaders had earlier driven from Nairobi, fuming all through the kaleidoscopic majesties of the Great Rift Valley, looking forward to a meeting with Daniel arap Moi at his Kabarak home. The only notable absentee was Musalia Mudavadi, Kenyatta’s running mate, who was so disoriented over his loss of Sabatia seat that he had turned down an offer to come back to Parliament as a nominated MP. The previous day, Mwai Kibaki had been inaugurated as Kenya’s third President in a chaotic fete. But this was not what the Kanu men were angry about. Far from it. It was bad enough that the Kanu leadership had been treated like horseshit before the now retired President was bundled into a chopper and advised to go and look after his goats by one Kiraitu Murungi. Head of Civil Service Dr Sally Kosgei had been left in tears, as was the good-natured champion of Kenya’s women, Madam Zipporah Kittony. To add insult to injury, Dr Kosgei had lost one of her shoes in the stampede that accompanied Kibaki’s race from Uhuru Park to State House. When she was fired days later, her severance package, in form of old bank notes bound with a plastic band, was rushed to her home in an old envelope and tossed to her house maid. Kwenda huko. But the worst treatment had been reserved for Daniel arap Moi himself. Mwai Kibaki had not uttered one kind word about the retiring President in his speech. He did not even recognise him as a leader of the Kenyan people for over two decades, or even as an elder statesman who was respected all over the continent. Now, as the anger raged and roiled, Njenga Karume’s contention that Mwai Kibaki was one hell of a thankless guy ringed all true and prophetic to the Kanu men. When Daniel arap Moi showed up, the group told him they were incensed by the kind of humiliation that was meted on him by the Narc administration. Their biggest annoyance was the fact that this happened particularly in the presence of President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, President Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania and President Levy Mwanawasa of Zambia, all of whom held Daniel arap Moi in the highest esteem. But the old man, as Jaramogi Odinga observed in his 1967 classic Not Yet Uhuru, was the giraffe who saw far. He urged for patience, tolerance and forgiveness. Daniel arap Moi advised the Kanu losers to go and serve their constituents, reminding them that they were still MPs and leaders of the people. Narc would implode in a spectacular display of self-immolation in its own time. As soon as Mwai Kibaki was handed State House by Daniel arap Moi, the DP hardliners in the coalition had quickly “stolen” the wheelchair-bound president after lunch before he could address the MoU issue with his coalition colleagues. They took him to his Muthaiga home and locked the gate, placing politically correct gatekeepers to keep Raila and his men away. Afterwards, the more influential of the hardliners met at Windsor Golf and Country Club, which was owned by one of them. The subject was Raila Odinga and his unwelcome LDP mandarins. This would be a DP government, they insisted. And did someone mention the bloody MoU at State House earlier in the day? Well, what MoU? The meeting started on a unanimous note when the convenor announced that any MoU with the names of the former NDP men on it should not be honoured. Raila Odinga himself never honoured any MoUs anyway. First, the meeting was told, Raila had duped Kibaki in 1998. After their loss to Moi in 1997, Raila had mooted a working agreement with Kibaki. On the day the deal was to be consummated, Raila had kept a yawning Kibaki waiting at the Serena Hotel while he dashed off to State House to explore a partnership deal with their common foe. The DP men never forgave Raila Odinga. The second instance was the MoU Raila Odinga signed on behalf of the LDP with Simeon Nyachae of Ford People. LDP had blatantly ignored that MoU as they rushed to sign a different MoU with Mwai Kibaki in the Narc deal. In fact, when in November all the Opposition luminaries had met in Moody Awori’s residence at Lavington to discuss the issue of a joint presidential candidate, Simeon Nyachae had reminded Raila and his men of their MoU but he was brushed aside. Nyachae had then stormed out to start his lone campaign after the LDP betrayal, followed by his side-kick Kipkalya Kones. So heated had been the meeting at Awori’s home that Kipkalya Kones had accosted an influential DP MP by the swimming pool with a copy of their own MoU with Raila Odinga. The DP man was irritated and pointedly told Kones to shove the said MoU. Kones, a hot-blooded Kipsigis, had erupted and punched the respected DP man but the man answered with his own blows that sent Kones tumbling towards the water. It had taken the intervention of Moody Awori to separate the men and cool down the tempers. Now, another MoU was in contention. But as the convenor of the secret DP meeting at Windsor reminded the gathered men, there was really no honour among thieves. Let him who has never dishonoured an MoU be the first to throw a stone. The China vase that was Narc started cracking exactly a week after Kibaki’s inauguration, when on January 6, 2003, Mbita MP Otieno Kajwang assembled 24 Narc MPs and charged that the LDP wing of Narc had been given a raw deal. Raila Odinga had not been given the prime ministerial position that he had been promised, neither had the LDP list of ministerial candidates been considered. Much has been chronicled on the Narc betrayal, and it can be found elsewhere. But the NAK wing of Narc was unfazed, daring the LDP leaders to pack up and go if they didn’t like it. On the other hand, the problems of Kanu were just beginning in earnest. Within a week of being appointed Minister for Information, Raphael Tuju led a group of Narc leaders to the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), and ordered the Kanu men to pack and leave. KICC had been Kanu headquarters since it was built. However, it seemed like it was not constructed by the party. It was Government property. Key UN offices were based in the building, as well as important departments of the Office of the President and the Kenya Times Media Trust, a Kanu media house. Tuju also reminded Kenyatta and his people that Kanu owed Kenya Power KES210 million and KES8 million in council rates. And you fellows had better pay up, he warned. Narc was not through with sending people packing. The great purge now begun. The first to go was Bernard Chunga, the cagey chief justice. Although he wasn’t a great chief justice and was said to perform below expectations, Narc fired him more casually than you’d dismiss a tea girl. Justice Evans Gicheru was appointed in his place. Next was the Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya, Nahashon Nyagah. Finance Minister David Mwiraria was advised by State House to fire him with as much speed as possible, and he was replaced with Andrew Mullei. Then the great judiciary radical surgery started, headed by Justice Aaron Gitonga Ringera, who frequently updated the media on the number of judges and magistrates they had summarily fired while quoting Shakespeare. Born at Karen police station to a father who was one of the toughest cops in the division, Justice Ringera was both the sheriff and the executioner. Finally, Narc fired all procurement officers, all permanent secretaries and 37 district commissioners. Kenyatta’s party was under siege. Although he was now the Leader of Official Opposition, his protestations were barely heard as the new Narc chiefs stole the limelight and started running roughshod over the country. The new ministers lunged into new levels of opulence and hedonism, purchasing new furniture for their offices from as far as South Africa. In spite of all this, however, the Narc administration started its work with the help of unprecedented levels goodwill from Kenyans from across the country. According to the End of Year Survey released by Gallup International, Kenyans were at this time the most optimistic people in the world. Unfortunately, the sun of optimism engulfing the country did not shine upon Kanu and Uhuru Kenyatta. At the beginning of February, Musalia Mudavadi quit Kanu. Of the original Kanu vice presidents, only Kenyatta remained in active service. Kalonzo Musyoka was in LDP, Noah Katana Ngala had lost his parliamentary seat, and now Mudavadi had bolted out. As February wore on, Kenyans were treated to splash pictures of Kenyatta appearing in the media at the national police headquarters with his head sticking through the bars at the entrance of Vigilance House. He was accompanied by Bomet MP Nick Salat, Siakago MP Justin Muturi and nominated MP Mutula Kilonzo. The lady they were begging to let them in was Police Deputy Commissioner Alice Kagunda, who would have saluted Kenyatta on sight had they met just a few weeks earlier. Now the shoe was in the other foot and it wasn’t fitting at all. Kenyatta had earlier rushed to court and obtained an order allowing them to operate from KICC until the ownership matter was arbitrated. Accompanied by party officials, he had gone to the KICC waving the document only to be thrown out by armed police under instruction from the Narc chiefs. Chris Murungaru, the powerful Minister in Charge of Security in the Office of the President, was certainly enjoying his handiwork. He had told the media that now Kanu was a makeshift party operating from the streets. Kiraitu Murungi and Martha Karua had also aired similar sentiments, and for all they cared Kanu could operate from under a tree. They were intent on annihilating Kanu, and with it Kenyatta’s political fortunes. The sleek presidential candidate of five weeks ago now cut the figure of a street activist who, to borrow a Maasai saying, spent most of his time protecting his sheep from marauding hyenas. Officer Alice Kagunda didn’t like the sight of Kenyatta sticking his head through the metal bars of Vigilance House and asked them to conduct themselves well if they were to be allowed to see Police Commissioner Edwin Nyaseda. They left again for the KICC just across the road where Kenyatta, William Ruto and Justin Muturi tried to force their way into the building before they were repulsed again. They went back to Vigilance House and this time caused a commotion that drew attention to their plight, and were allowed to see Edwin Nyaseda. The police commissioner said he feared enforcing the court order because he was receiving instructions from the Office of the President. He informed Kenyatta that he would first seek advice from Attorney-General Amos Wako before acting on the court order. Justin Muturi, who was then the Kanu chief whip and the leading Kanu legal mind, was left behind to await communication from the A-G. He sat there for hours, like a roadside squatter, with all the senior police officers ignoring him. He would sit in the lobby until late evening when he realised no communication was forthcoming. Amos Wako answered the following day, saying Kanu would stay out of KICC. Never before had a simple court order been the subject of such bureaucratic rigmarole. In a twist, Edwin Nyaseda himself would be retired (actually, fired) only a few weeks later without any explanation given. He made history as the youngest man to become head of police in Kenya, and also the youngest to be retired at only 48. He was replaced with Brigadier Hussein Ali, a no-nonsense military man. From the beginning, Kenyatta’s run as Leader of Official Opposition was beleaguered with sinkholes. For a party that had been in power since independence, it was hard to adjust and make a new and clear headway. He tripped many times, made unnecessary gaffes and sometimes embarrassing errors of judgement. He was fighting two wars; one within Kanu, and the other from the Government. Without Daniel arap Moi’s presence and guidance, his 68 MPs were like orphans. Moreover, some of the Kanu MPs in the larger Kiambu and the eastern side of the Mountain region were now warming up to Narc. Some of them were openly saying that they only vied on a Kanu ticket because they thought Kenyatta would become President. Now that he wasn’t, they thought they ought to be working with Mwai Kibaki and Narc. George Saitoti, the former foe of the Kanu Young Turks, was fully rehabilitated in Narc and was implementing a highly successful free primary education programme as Minister for Education. The man from Kajiado was always in his element when implementing programmes. With good cover from Chris Murungaru and Kiraitu Murungi, thanks to his defection from the LDP wing of Narc to NAK, Saitoti made several attacks on Kanu. Although he had been the country’s Vice President during the Kanu reign, he never tired of reminding the people in public meetings that Kanu was corrupt and inefficient. The former don drew admiration from people from around Kenya at this time, and many analysts started writing exactly the opposite of what they had been writing about him a year earlier. One day in the cold month of July, Kenyatta decided to defend Kanu against Saitoti’s attacks. Noting that Saitoti had been driving a Volkswagen Beetle before Moi took pity on him and removed him from the university and on to public life and politics, Kenyatta said Saitoti should at least be grateful to Kanu and Daniel arap Moi for making him a wealthy man. The statement was met with withering scorn from the entire rank and file of Narc, with Kiraitu Murungi saying that it was such a cheap shot that the great George Saitoti should not even bother answering back. The don did as he was advised, an action that only watered down the standing of the Kanu top guy. If you enjoyed, share and claim your promotional copy!
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 06:51:25 +0000
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