allAfrica.com: Kenya: 'Kanu Has Undergone Massive Change'

He is 42, young and the scion of what may yet become a political dynasty in Kenya. His name is Uhuru Kenyatta, son of Kenya’s founding president Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, and the presidential candidate of his father’s Kenya African National Union (Kanu), which has been under the leadership of Daniel arap Moi for the past 24 years.

Kenyatta's detractors call him a political novice - untried, untested and inexperienced. He has never held elected office and his one stab at being elected backfired. His critics also accuse him of being a puppet of the outgoing president. But his supporters say he is will bring new blood to Kanu and is precisely the fresh start Kenya needs.

Criss-crossing the country in his whistle-stop presidential campaign, in the run-up to general elections scheduled on December 27, Kenyatta was in Kajiado - Maasai country - in Kenya’s southern Rift Valley Province this week.

He was greeted enthusiastically by hundreds of local people, who seemed as fascinated by Kenyatta’s choice of campaign vehicles - three smart chopper helicopters - as they were by his message.

Kenyatta is running against the veteran and seasoned politician, and one-time vice president and finance minister, Mwai Kibaki, who is 71. Kibaki first served under Kenyatta’s father and later Moi, before leaving Kanu and standing against the president in 1992 and 1997.

Kibaki is now the leader and presidential candidate of the opposition alliance National Rainbow Coalition (Narc). Observers say Kenyatta may have a tough task beating Kibaki in the polls. Three other contenders are also contesting the presidential seat in Kenya but are thought to have only a slim chance of success.

Before boarding his chopper at the end of his campaign visit to Kajiado, Uhuru Kenyatta outlined his vision of a new Kenya under his leadership, in an interview with Marianne Kihlberg of Swedish Broadcasting, Muliro Telewa of the BBC and allAfrica’s Ofeibea Quist-Arcton.

What made you want to become president and plunge yourself into the muddy waters of Kenyan politics?

Hopefully, to find a better Kenya and to build a better Kenya for all of us.

You have never held elected office, you have been described as political novice, with very little experience.

Maybe that’s what this country needs, freshness, a new approach, a new attitude, so perhaps the 'novice’ element is going to help us.

In 1997, you ran as a parliamentary candidate in the Kikuyu-speaking region of Kenya you come from, but you were not elected by the people, you lost. What makes you think that things have changed and that Kenyans will vote for you this time round and that you would make a good president?

The thing about the 1997 elections is that people were voting along particularly tribal lines. My problem was that I was in the wrong party, I was in Kanu, according to people from my own area. The main push then was 'join DP, join any other party and we will vote for you.’ I said 'no, I don’t think I believe in the principle of hopping from one party to another.’ So I suffered as a result of it then, but I think it’s paying me dividends today.

So the 'Kenyatta’ name and political legacy of your father, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s founding president, didn’t help?

No because, like I said, people were voting largely on the basis of ethnicity and it depended on which party you were in and, as far as they were concerned, this or that was the party that they wanted the Kikuyu community to be in and that was it.

Uhuru Kenyatta, you talk about a whole new approach and a 'freshness’ that you would bring, but you are a member of a very old party, your late father’s and President Moi’s governing Kanu party. Many of your critics say that you have just latched onto the old guard of Kenyan politicians. What 'fresh’ approach can you bring to Kenya, should you win the elections?

I think that’s the most important aspect of it all because, yes, we are in a very old party and parties are basically an institution. But what’s important is that the bulk of the leadership in Kanu has absolutely changed. I think that we are about the only party in the country that has brought about a massive change within its party hierarchy.

A lot of the people who were in positions of authority within our own party, and within our past governments, are all basically now in the opposition. That creates, for me, a wonderful new opportunity for our party Kanu.

What about those who say that, should Uhuru Kenyatta win the elections, President Daniel arap Moi will be ruling behind the scenes and that you are not your own man.

I think that’s absolute rubbish. Our constitution is absolutely clear. President Moi retires at the end of this year and he hands over power, according to our constitution, to the duly elected new president. I do not believe for one second that he himself is even ready to continue hanging onto power.

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