Before his demise , the late president Moi was known as the "professor of politics" because of his cunningness , wittiness and the political conmanship he exercise without any iota of fear and shame. President Moi never allow the word political friendship to come between him and his interests. He used to keep his close friends too close yet too far and his adversaries absolutely very near. In his 24 years ruthless rule which was characterized with misuse of security apparatus , bangling of the County's economy and unabated looting of public resources and corruption.
In 1991 , President Moi bowed to pressure from the donor and international community to allow multipartyism aganaist his discretion. He knew his one part rule and autocracy will come to an end and he will not be in a position to wield the power the way he used during the one party rule. In 1992 general elections , KANU regime was accused of rigging the presidential vote. Before that happened , the opposition parties aided his ascension back to power when they failed to tame their personal ambitions and front one presidential candidate to face Moi. When Moi realized that , he used the divide and rule tactics inorder to ensure that , all this opposition parties that had fronted presidential candidates will goo all the way to the end. That's exactly what happened. President Moi sneaked back to power and continued with his Authoritarian and Autocratic regime.
In 1997, the presidential elections took a new twist. Opposition parties were aware what had happened back in 1992 but did not heed to the lessons they learnt. This time round , new entrants like Charity Ngilu of Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Raila Odinga of National Development Party (NDP) joined the presidential race. The opposition leaders acted smart. They had formed an Inter-Parliamentary Party Group (IPPG) to ensure that , political parties will commit themselves to ensure that Electoral Commission of Kenya ( ECK) will conduct its businesses in a fair environment free from State or political interferences. After the general elections , KANU faced the first test of opposition from the opposition. Though it win the general elections , Moi didn't attain the 50+1% if there was such a threshold. What shocked president Moi and his KANU party is that , they only had one MP top of all the MPs opposition parties had in Parliament.
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President Moi wanted to have an easy time in Parliament. He knew , the number of MPs he had would not have helped his transact his business in Parliament especially in pushing his Government's agenda. Also with him , there was a baggage of managing his succession since he had declared that , he wasn't going to defend his seat. To survived he wooed NDP leader and MP for Langata Raila Odinga to join his goverment. And to make it successfully , he had to ditch his party and join the KANU regime. For this to happen , president Moi offered Raila Odinga lucrative deal , firstly , he promised to pick him as the secretary general of KANU and hand him a full ministerial portfolio. Also , some of the MPs drawn from his NDP the likes of Dalmas Otieno got Ministerial and Assistant Minister portfolios.
What Raila Odinga didn't know is that , president Moi was using him to manage and carve his succession matrices. He has no business with him. Already , after Raila joined KANU and benched Joseph Kamotho as the KANU secretary general , the other KANU stalwarts became wary and suspicious of Raila Odinga. That was March of 2002 and the general elections was to happen in December 27. Raila in his thinking , he acted fast and in a cunning way. He started taking a pole position for President Moi to appoint him as his successor. That was the WORST political assumption Raila Odinga. So far , Moi was grooming the young UHURU KENYATTA. From being picked as the chairman of Kenya Tourism Board ( KTB) , to be nominated MP and then Minister for Local Government to finally being KANU's presidential candidate. All this happened in quick succession.
At kasarani stadium where KANU held the delegates meeting , there was tension and pandemonium. It was expected President Moi was going to pick his preferred successor. The likes of Raila Odinga , the late Prof George Saitoti , Kalonzo Musyoka , Musalia Mudavadi were expecting either of them to be picked. This became elephant was president Moi told off his Vice President George Saitoti by telling him , there is a difference between leadership and friendship. When President Moi stood to speak , hebwas very brief. He settled on the young and political green Uhuru Kenyatta. Hell broke loose. Raila Odinga and his fellow KANU members who felt aggrieved formed the renegade group by the name rainbow Alliance. This group attacked President Moi choice right, left and centre.
What shocked them is that , President Moi didn't cow to their threats and endless razzmatazz. He just ignored them and continued with his plan of preparing UHURU KENYATTA to start touring various places accompanied by President Moi in selling his agenda. Raila Odinga and his caramaderie jumped ship and joined National Alliance Party of Kenya ( NAK) which housed Kibaki , Kijana Wamalwa and Charity Ngilu. Raila Odinga has no political party since he had wrapped his NDP. Thru looked for a moribund party by the name of LDP which they used to join NAK. After joining it , they formed National Rainbow Coalition (NARC).
President Moi only feared Narc to pick Raila Odinga as it's presidential candidate but he was certain that , that wouldn't have happened. Already , he had manage to cage him. The moment he lured him to join KANU and dissolve his NDP , there is no way he would have retreated back even after being short changed. Raila only pulled a Samsonian card. He wanted to see KANU being sent to political oblivion and a hole it will never come out from. It is Raila who endorsed Kibaki in a fully parked Uhuru Park where , former Ford People leader the late Simeon Nyachae was expecting he will be picked as the Coalition party presidential candidate.
President Moi knew very well KANU's day were coming to an end. Its day was marked. What gave President Moi a sigh of relief , two presidential candidates from one ethnic community and who were front runners found themselves facing each other. This is what Moi wanted. He knew UHURU KENYATTA wouldn't have managed to clinch the presidential seat but he was certain that if Kibaki won, he will be just a caretaker president and definitely UHURU KENYATTA would be in a pole position to succeed him. That latter happened back in 2013. President Moi knew that , the only person who would have altered his matrices is Raila Odinga. So, inorder to survive , he would have caged Raila. Period!!!
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