Unprecedented Acrimony: Can the Big Party Survive?

(From The Nation (Kenya): AAGM)

Byline: Tom Osanjo

The defiant stance adopted by Prof George Saitoti hours after he was sacked as the Vice-President on Friday afternoon is a pointer to an even gloomier future for the ruling party, Kanu. And the biggest question on many people's lips now is whether the party will emerge from the current storm stronger or it will crumble.

Addressing a press conference at the Norfolk Hotel, Nairobi, Prof Saitoti said: "I have no regrets. I was sacked fighting for democracy, which is what I have consistently done in my work as Vice-President and Cabinet Minister for the past 13 years."

It is no secret that the party is facing its biggest crisis ever, only six months after its much-celebrated merger with the National Development Party. And although top officials, including the chairman, President Moi, are trying to put on a brave face, the rumbles emanating from the party, whose headquarters is at Kenyatta International Conference Centre, Nairobi, do not seem to show a united party.

Insiders say President Moi and his top lieutenants will be squarely to blame for the crisis, which has been spawned by the manner in which the Head of State, whose tenure expires after the next elections, has pushed his Uhuru-for-President campaign.

Internalise democracy

Soon after the Vice-President was sacked, a Kanu Member of Parliament told the Sunday Nation in Nairobi: "All we wanted was for Kanu to …