Uhuru's heart still in Kanu

Whatever is transpiring in the country today is a perpetuation of liberal democracy as provided for in the Political Parties Act.

We are emerging as a mature democracy. Kenya, in terms of democracy, is a leading light in the whole of Africa.

The issue of post-election coalitions is not new to us, we saw it during the times of Kanu and NDP merger, and we saw it later in the Kibaki era and now in the Kenyatta regime.

It also demonstrates that there are masterstrokes in politics that politicians will engage for the sake of political survival and the flexing of political muscle.

Uhuru Kenyatta knew pretty well that if he was to continue working closely with William Ruto as it was during his first term and after the 2017 election, he had to take control.

Towards the closure of his term, he would have been a lame-duck President having been held ransom by outgrowing Ruto’s political strength and muscles with a view of taking over after Kenyatta.

On the other side, he would have been held ransom by a strong opposition led by Raila Odinga had they not put together the now famous handshake.

The handshake came in to salvage the quest for unity that Kenyatta badly needed for the purposes of running a full and successful term.

Raila also came in to salvage his political fortunes because he had reached a dead end after that mock swearing-in.

Ruto saw that the handshake had been sprung to stymie his plans for 2022. Those fears seem to have come to pass.

When we see Kanu and Jubilee coming into a coalition – which is opposed by Ruto’s wing of jubilee- we see a President trying to strengthen his influence and trying to secure a possible political future for Gideon Moi, the Kanu chairman.

If it was a question of having a coalition in terms of numbers in Parliament that works for you then the first coalition Uhuru would have entered into is ODM and then Wiper because Kanu is a depleted house.

That demonstrates that Uhuru has never actually forgotten his love and passion for Kanu. His spirit has always been in Kanu.

His political godfather the late Daniel Moi is a man who nurtured him into the politician he has become today, it would also be termed as a way of thanking the late President Moi.

The governance and policy analyst spoke to the Star