Stephen Mburu
27 September 2008
Nairobi — The Party of National Unity recruitment drive may be entering its third week, but the future of the party that was cobbled together at the 11th hour to give President Mwai Kibaki a platform as he sought his last term does not seem promising.
Top PNU officials may want to portray an image of a united and strong outfit, but if the disorganisation that the exercise kicked off with two weeks ago is anything to go by, the leaders are putting up a brave face as the party's popularity dwindles.
Uncertainty
After it launched a countrywide recruitment drive on September 15, top party officials including chairman Noah Wekesa of the nine-member recruitment board, and PNU secretary-general George Nyamweya, claimed the exercise had not only started smoothly, but that the party would emerge stronger and better prepared for the 2012 General Election.
The drive was marked by uncertainty in most parts of the country, even in PNU strongholds, with party leaders at the grassroots claiming they had not been given clear instructions.
Mr Nyamweya now says the party will release a recruitment programme this week and that people should expect to see more party activities countrywide. However, he maintained the exercise "is going on smoothly".
He said the party would intensify the exercise with top party leaders reaching out to the people in the constituencies in a bid to recruit and educate them on the Political Parties Act. "Most (membership) cards have gone out to the constituencies. There will be more activity across the country from next week," he told the Sunday Nation on Friday.
A week ago, PNU officials, including Cabinet minister Kiraitu Murungi as well as former Siakago MP Justin Muturi, indicated that the recruitment drive had been made deliberately low key.
However, even before the exercise had started, some PNU party affiliate members had dismissed the party as a dying horse.
Justice minister Martha Karua, who is the Narc-Kenya chairperson, and secretary-general Danson Mungatana said the process was doomed. Other affiliate parties that have dismissed the recruitment exercise include Ford Kenya and the Democratic Party.
Kanu is a PNU partner and its chairman Uhuru Kenyatta has since dismissed claims he was about to ditch his party for PNU.
Mass movement
PNU, which was formed in September last year, is a coalition of Kanu, Narc-K Ford Kenya, Ford People, Democratic Party, Shirikisho and Safina, among others.
As President Kibaki's legmen were still ironing out the kinks in the political vehicle that would take him back to State House, his rival, Prime Minister Raila Odinga, had already transformed the Orange Democratic Party into a formidable mass movement.
Still, Mr Nyamweya, Mr Murungi and Dr Wekesa believe PNU will not only be in existence in 2012, but also be a force to reckon with. Mr Murungi has since disputed claims that the low-key recruitment drive had sounded alarm bells that all was not well in PNU.
The minister argued that recruitment exercises were usually "noisy and dramatic" when carried out just before national elections, as politicians tended to "influence election results in their favour".
"The styles and tempo of recruitment are usually determined by the election cycle. We are in a low ebb in the election cycle. We are on the right course. You don't expect the same hustle and bustle to accompany our recruitment drive like it would were it 2012," Mr Murungi said.
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