That all is not well within the PNU election board was further confirmed a few hours ago when Njoki Ndungu suddenly tendered her resignation. But what was even stranger was the fact that the usually very open Ms Ndungu was tight lipped as to her reasons for resigning.
Actually the PNU election board appears to have been hit by confusion right from the word go, because they started by appointing a man who had already been named to the ODM-K election board and the fact had been publicized widely in the media. Meaning that none of the folks making decisions bother to read the daily newspapers or catch the news bulletin on TV and radio.
But why exactly has Ms Ndungu resigned?
Some members of the press have speculated that it was because a section of the aspirants were very strongly against her appointment right from the word go because they did not have any confidence that she would be impartial. The MP who was one of the biggest achievers of the 9th parliament is known to be very tight with the top brass at PNU. This is in a backdrop where it is being increasingly felt that the PNU will force certain “favoured” candidates through the nomination process and leave many aspirants who are popular on the ground out in the cold. This in a nutshell is the bone of contention that has made it impossible for parties affiliated to the PNU to agree on a joint nomination exercise despite several meetings, some of which have been attended by President Kibaki himself.
Ms Njoki Ndungu is known to be a die hard backer of some of these characters whom it is expected will be given automatic nominations. One of these people is of course the influential Chris Murungaru.
Actually the reality of the situation is that the president will require a few trusted and experienced foot soldiers on the ground and for this reason there are some people who cannot be left out of the PNU line-up. If this is indeed what is going to happen, then PNU will have committed yet another critical mistake that will cost it dearly in the forthcoming polls.
In fact one hawk-eyed avid reader of thus blog has already seen what is happening and has predicted that Hoo Ndii Emm’s Kalonzo Musyoka will have a surprisingly good showing in Central Kenya from all those voters totally fed up with President Kibaki and also those who have lost loved ones to the Mungiki menace that swept through most of the province earlier this year but who can’t bring themselves to vote for Raila. Recent utterances by the Kibaki administration that bodies dumped in mortuaries all over the country had nothing to do with the police or government have only served to add salt to some very raw wounds. Indeed it is now emerging that much of the president’s support in central province is from voters who are not really voting for him but are voting against Raila Odinga and ODM in giving their votes to PNU. This is the feed back that I am getting from impeccable sources on the ground.
The mistake many Kenyans make in generalizing their attacks against the Kikuyu is to forget that this community has suffered untold misery under the Kibaki administration, especially in the issue of the so-called Mungiki purge. It is also a fact that many younger members of this community are not going to vote tribally this time round. It is instructive that John Kiarie (KJ of Redyculus fame) is standing on an ODM ticket and not PNU in Dagoretti constituency. I recently spoke to one of my in-laws who lives in the constituency and he told me bluntly that KJ will not get much in terms of votes if he stands with ODM. The younger people think different of course.
I must quickly add that I have always had an excellent relationship with my in-laws whom at the beginning used to call me Mujaruo for a reason I did not quite understand because they were told clearly that my Father is Kamba and my mother a Bukusu. My Kikuyu beauty once explained to me that my features are not quite what my in-laws expected from a Kamba man. They expected a thin almost-malnourished, small man. So my guess is that they linked me more closely to my Bukusu side which many of my in-laws think is right next to Luo Nyanza.
Still they love me to bits after all these years and I have no doubt that if I stood for the parliamentary seat in Dagoretti, I would receive overwhelming support from them and their influential friends in the constituency. You can be sure that I will work very hard to push that support in the direction of KJ.
