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Kenya

Karua snubs Uhuru 2012 offer

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 23 – Narc-Kenya chairperson Martha Karua has dismissed plans by Party of National Unity (PNU) coalition leaders to include her in their bid for a single presidential candidate.

Speaking after attending a church service at PCEA Githimu, Dagoretti on Sunday the Gichugu MP said she would not be party to such a deal for a single candidate saying all parties should test their popularity for the presidency, and face voters at the ballot box.

“May I ask my brother Uhuru (Kenyatta) and his friends to a new democratic Kenya where competition is the order of the day; I invite them to a serious competition based on fair play. I am going for the top seat, welcome to the competition,” Ms Karua said.

Members of the PNU alliance had last week indicated that they had resolved to include all member parties in the process of nominating a presidential candidate as it works to set up a formidable political machine for the 2012 elections.

“People were brutilised and others lost lives as we were asking the Moi Government to allow multiparty politics. The days of urging people to belong to one party are all over,” she argued.

The coalition led by Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta has resolved to reach out to Narc Kenya leader Martha Karua and assistant minister Peter Kenneth and invite them to participate in primaries to select PNU’s flag bearer.

Both Mr Kenyatta and Ms Karua are expected to contest the presidency and want to inherit the region politically from President Kibaki who will be retiring.

“The days for the politics of entitlement and inheritance are over. Let all of us go before the people and let them make their decision based on our stand on issues.”

Ms Karua has faulted the government’s commitment to addressing issues of national importance.

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She said that the government seems to have its priorities misplaced saying that Kenyans were still waiting for the solution to the drought affecting parts of the country.

According to her, leaders should accelerate the reform agenda as envisaged by the new Constitution.

“The Head of State cannot be thinking of succession and crafting alliances at the expense of spearheading the reform agenda so that we say goodbye to oppression and extrajudicial killings,” she said

President Kibaki last Friday made a grand entrance at Eldoret in a symbolic move that announced the changing fortunes of his co-principal in the grand coalition government and his main opponent in 2007, Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

The meeting attended by more than 60 MPs from across the country was held against the backdrop of heightened political tension pitting Rift Valley MPs allied to William Ruto and Mr Odinga with the latter’s erstwhile closest allies drifting away.

(Follow the author on https://twitter.com/Lwanambisi)

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