THE PROPOSAL TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF ADMINISTRATIVE PROVINCES IN KENYA FROM THE PRESENT
8 TO 20 HAS BEEN MET WITH VEHEMENT OPPOSITION.
News Analysis By Leo Odera Omolo.
The recent proposal made by some senior politicians aligned to the Party of National Unity {PNU} has met with wholesale condemnation from Kenyans from all walks of life.
A cross section of leaders and the ordinary Kenyan citizens interviewed have termed it as ‘dangerous scheme hatched by PNU to continue perpetuating itself in power “while a section of leaders from the vast Rift Valley Province Described the move as unacceptable and an attempt by minority parliamentary party to rescue itself from its seemingly inevitable disintegration before the 2012 general elections.
.KANU a party which forms the amalgamation of dozens of smaller parties which forms the PNU is threatening to walk out of the shaky union.
Narc-Kenya another partner is already out of the group following the resignation of its leader Ms Martha Karua from the coalition government. Her resignation in huff was followed by that of the party’ secretary-general Danson Mungatana who also relinquished his post as an Assistant Minister in the coalition in solidarity with Ms.Karua a former Minister fo9r justice and Constitutional Affairs.
However, two senior most KANU politicians have yet to make their stand known publicly.
They are the national chairman Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, the deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance in the PNU-ODM coalition government, and the second national vice chairman of the party Prof.Sam K. Ongeri, who is the Minister for Education.
But Ongeri too has a problem of grass roots support from his minority Kisii community whose majority members forms the bulks of ODM grass roots support in Nyanza Province.
Out of ten parliamentary constituencies in the Gusii region KANU had won only one seat.
And that is the Nyaribari Masaba constituency which Ongeri himself of had won narrowly after a grueling battle with the ODM aspirant..
But political pundits were quick in dismissing both Kenyatta and Ongeri as being insignificant due to the fact that both the two men lacked the grassroots support and backing of their communities.
In this context Ongeri stands very little chance of wining the Abagusii votes for Mr.Kenyatta, though, in the last presidential lection the votes from Gusii region were shared on 50-50 between Raila Odinga and President Kibaki..
Kenyatta hails from the dominant Kikuyu tribe, community, which is known to be hostile to KANU.This has placed Kenyatta, who is also known to be nursing presidential ambition to an awkward position, which sooner or later may force him to abandon KANU and join other fellow politicians from the Central Kenya region.
It is indeed an open secret that some PNU politicians are grooming Kenyatta to be their flag bearer in the next presidential election, while other are said to be giving half hearted backing to the Vice President and Minister for Home Affairs Stephen Kalonzo musyoka whose political star appear to be rapidly getting more deemed. This is because the Kikuyu voters are well known not to be comfortable in voting any other presidential candidate other than those of their own, It remains to be seen if Kalonzo Musyoka could be the first politician from outside to break the jinx.Other contenders for the highest office on the land include the Internal Security Minister Prof. George Saitoti and the Gichugu MP Martha Karua.
Prof.Saitoti’s grass root support remains unclear as he is from the Maasai community in the Rift Valley whose majority members are firm supporters of ODM, while Karua star is on steady rise not only in Central Kenya but in other regions as well. She made a remarkable improvement when she walked out of Kibaki PNU government citing frustrations. Gender issues could also expected to favor the iron lady from Gichugu..
The man who is in control of KANU is Gideon Moi who has already registered his vehement opposition to the proposed plan to sub-divide the existing provinces and increase their numbers from 8 to 20.The favorite son of the retired President Daniel Arap Moi is currently enjoying the support of the party secretary general Nik Salat, who is also a former Bomet MP.
Uhuru relations with other KANU leaders is reportedly getting worse by days.
Other KANU leaders accused the deputy Prime Minister of being more of a PNU than KANU.
Salat like Gideon Moi is a son of a former Bomet politician the late Isaac Kipkorir Salat a former Assistant Minister who many years in the 1970s had acted s KANU power broker between the retired President Moi and the populous Kipsigis community. Both Moi and Salat are youthful politicians. They have of late been cress crossing the full length and width of the vast Rift Valley Province while drumming for their party’ support and also explaining their reasons for opposing the sub-division of the Provinces..
Their sentiments were echoed by none, but the retired President Daniel Arap Moi himself in speech delivered in Nakuru Town last week He said the Provinces be left the way they are despite their sizes for the sake of national unity ‘Why would one wants the Provinces to be divided? If this is done it will cause tribalism,’ he said.
The retired President who is arguably still a force to reckon ,especially in he Rift Valley politics said he was particularly opposed to the sub-division of the expansive Rift Valley Province, adding that the area was a cosmopolitan region. But the majority of its residents were the Kalennjins, Kikuyuand and the Luhyias..
The former President said he had no quarrels with the creation of new districts. He, however, wondered why some leaders were advocating the divisions of Provinces while the same was contained in the draft Constitution that was rejected in the referendum of 2005..
Moi said Kenya had just come out from the trying period of post election violence, adding that the current stability should be preserved..
Elsewhere the leader of the United Democratic MOVEMENT, Lt. General John Koech blamed the government plan of crating more new districts, arguing that some parts of the country lacked the resources of sustaining the new administrative.
Gen Koech termed the move as the worse balkanization of the community. Some areas are task of developing the country. The elections times is still far away and four years to come, “said M
ODM politicians have dismissed the proposal as mischief and an attempt by the PNU who to sub-divide the Provinces as a simple scheme to create regions for the purpose of garnering the 25 per cent of the votes casted in every Province by presidential candidates.
In the last general election of 2007 President Mwai Kibaki fell short of getting the required mandatory 25 per cent of votes in most Provinces except three out of eight.
These were Central, Nyanza and the Coast whereas his arch-rival Raila Odinga had garnered 25 per cent of votes in seven Provinces with the exception of only the Central.
“We should not gamble with the life of Kenyans for political expediency. PNU leaders must stop this kind of manoeuvres and political machinations, and instead they should
concentrate in the
.’Let the PNU leaders stop panicking. The election is free and open and could be won only by the popular leader whether the Provinces are divided into small balkanized villages or not,’ added Mr Randa.
In Kericho toqn, young Kipsigis politician said the would opposed the division of the Rift Valley. at all costs. Kenya, they said is stable the way it is, said their leader Mr.Abdi Maritim,.who supported the stands taken by Gideon Moi and Nick Salat.-
Mr Abdi Maritim appealed to all Kalenjin MPs to work together as a team withthei9rcolleagues from the Maasai community with the view to ensure tht n0body divides the Rift Valley Province to satisfy his egocentric kind of political whims and ambition.
Gideon Moi himself had earlier told a public rally in North Nandi town of Kapsabet that those keen in dividing the Provinces and creating more should do so in their home regions, but not I the Rift Valley..
The PNU leaders had proposed that the expansive Rift Valley Province be sub-divided into four Provinces, while Nyanza and Western to be divided into three provinces each, Central ito two, North Eastern into two, while Eastern is to be sub-divided into three and the same with the Coast Province.In the newly proposed arrangement Nairobi, which is the country’s capital City would remain a metropolitan.
In the 1962 constitution negotiated by Kenyan politicians during the round table constitutional conference in the Lancester House, London, eight of the Kenya’s present administrative provinces had their own autonomous regional assemblies with regional presidents and vice presidents respectively. But the arrangement baptized as “Majimbo’ didn’t’ last for long. It was found to be cumbersome and unworkable and immediately scrapped in a series of constitutional changes in Parliament
ENDS
Leooderaomolo@yahoo.com
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Date: Sun, 31 May 2009 21:25:05 -0700 (PDT)
From: Leo Odera Omolo
Subject: PNU PLANS TO SUB SPLIT KENYA’S PROVINCES MET WITH STRONG OPPOSITION
