NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 15 – Allies of PNU Chairman George Saitoti now say that he will participate in joint presidential primaries of the G7 alliance.
Party of National Unity Organising Secretary Maina Kamanda said on Friday that the party was currently focused on meeting regulations of the Political Parties Act.
There has been uncertainty over whether Saitoti will participate in the primaries after he failed to attend the launch of the PNU Alliance recruitment drive in January. The Alliance has been associated with the G7 leading lights who include Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Eldoret North MP William Ruto and Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka.
“All these parties that have been allied to the PNU, even Ruto’s party (United Republican Party) and others will at one time come back to the main fold so that we can win the election in the first round with a 60 percent majority of the all the votes cast. We are not interested in going for a presidential runoff,” he said.
The PNU Alliance, whose symbol is a bus was formed late last year, by Saitoti, Musyoka, Kenyatta and their allies. They signed a protocol on behalf of PNU, Wiper Party of Kenya and Kanu respectively, in which they agreed to transform the coalition into a political party.
Energy Minister Kiraitu Murungi resigned as Secretary General of PNU to concentrate on the PNU Alliance Party where he is now the coordinator.
Murungi has been struggling to market the PNU Alliance, which is seeking to rebrand to the Alliance Party of Kenya so as to comply with the law.
In a bid to create clarity among their supporters, PNU Alliance wrote to the Registrar of Political Parties seeking to change its name to Alliance Party of Kenya to bring on board like-minded parties.
Meanwhile, Kamanda announced that the party had appointed Trade Minister Amos Kimunya to the post of Secretary General of the party that sponsored President Kibaki’s 2007 re-election.
He said the decision was arrived at during a National Management Committee meeting held on Thursday.
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