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Another 'Big One' Quits Kanu

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Published on Saturday, 02 June 2007 06:38

The Kanu deputy national treasurer, Mr Chris Obure, has quit the party to protest its alliance with Ford People. Mr Obure also resigned from the main opposition party's top organ, the national executive committee (NEC), but did not give details of his next move. His resignation is a big blow to the former governing party, for he chaired a task force formed early this year to seek the way forward after an election loss to Narc last year.

Said the former Finance minister: "I have, with immediate effect, ceased to be a member of Kanu and resigned my position as deputy national treasurer and NEC member." He dismissed the Coalition for National Unity, spearheaded by Ford-P leader Simeon Nyachae and Kanu vice-chairman Uhuru Kenyatta, as illegitimate. He joined some MPs from the two opposition parties in accusing Mr Nyachae and Mr Kenyatta of hastily binding the members a unity pact without consulting them. He said: "The alliance is a sham as it lacks legitimacy. It's not only shrouded in secrecy, but also executed in a hurry."

Mr Obure's action might open the floodgates for resignations from Kanu by those opposed to the unity. MPs Isaack Shaban, John Serut, Chris Okemo, Patrick Muiruri and Maalim Mohamed have already dismissed it as "null and void". They gave Mr Kenyatta a week to pull out or be thrown out of the party leadership. Mr Okemo, who is running for the Kanu national chairmanship alongside Mr Kenyatta and Nominated MP Mutula Kilonzo, termed the coalition "a cosmetic alliance between two frustrated leaders that can't achieve anything."

He said: "This is an alliance of two frustrated leaders craving for political relevance in the country's national politics. I can't be party to or recognise the pact because I was not personally consulted." Ford-P MPs Stephen Manoti and Omingo Magara have also opposed it. Yesterday, Mr Obure said the unity pact was tailored to serving the interests of a clique of ambitious people at the expense of the ordinary members. He urged Kisii leaders to stop driving the community away from the Government by identifying with Opposition. "A political alliance beneficial to Abagusii should be one that brings them closer to the Government, and not one confining them to the periphery. We cannot afford further marginalisation," he said