The Nation (Nairobi)
Kamau Ngotho
6 September 2008
(Page 2 of 2)
In December 1991, Mr Moi succumbed to local and international pressure to re-introduce multiparty politics in the country.
As the acrimonious crusade heated up in the 1988-91 period, Mr Kibaki had remained ambivalent, even hostile to the campaign. Indeed, even after Mr Moi had given up, he went to his Nyeri home and declared that "Kanu was like a giant tree which opposition wanted to cut with a razor blade".
But as Mr Kibaki hesitated, others put together an opposition party, the Democratic Party, and persuaded him to be their founder chairman.
John Keen, who was the party's founder secretary general, discloses: "Truth be told, Kibaki, and with all due respect to him as the head of state, at first had nothing to do with the DP.
"We are the ones who formed it and persuaded him to be our leader. His name had clout. That is why we installed him as our chairman, reluctant as he was."
Original Ford
Pressed further, Mr Keen reveals: "DP was actually a brainchild of the Kenyatta family. When the original Ford came up with Oginga Odinga as chairman, they really got scared by the prospect of an Odinga presidency, given his unfriendly past with Mzee Kenyatta".
The Kenyatta family, says Mr Keen, had hoped Kenneth Matiba, then recuperating from a stroke in London, would recover in good time and take over Ford.
"When that never worked, they came up with a plan B which was Kibaki, hence the hurried formation of the DP."
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
