Cabinet minister Musikari Kombo yesterday declared his intention to vie for the presidency in the 2007 elections soon after being re-elected as Ford Kenya chairman.
Mr Kombo, who was unopposed, extended an olive branch to his opponents who boycotted the elections stating that he was ready to work with them.
Ford Kenya chairman Musikari Kombo (right) congratulates secretary-general John Munyes after they were both re-elected unopposed at Kasarani Stadium yesterday.
Special Programmes minister John Munyes retained his secretary-general's seat unopposed during the elections in which only five national seats were filled. The remaining seats, from the first national chairman to the secretaries of sectoral issues, would be filled by the governing council.
The peaceful elections at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, were supervised by the Electoral Commission of Kenya.
"I do promise that I will serve selflessly and with a lot of dedication. I have been given the mandate by the delegates, and as our constitution states, I am the presidential candidate," said Mr Kombo, the Local Government minister.
"However, I will not work on this alone. From here, I will go into every village and to all corners of this country to ensure Ford-K retains its national status. From today onwards, I will hold rallies in all villages and call on Kenyans to support me in my bid for the country's leadership," he added.
The elections were held a day after the High Court threw out a case by party members allied to Housing minister Soita Shitanda, who wanted the exercise stopped on grounds that the grassroots polls were flawed.
They were opposed to the requirement that contestants for the chairmanship pay Sh2 million. They had earlier staged a coup in the party with Mr Shitanda declaring himself chairman but were stopped from assuming office by the High Court.
Mr Shitanda and his allies, Cabinet minister Moses Akaranga, assistant ministers Bonny Khalwale, David Were, Enock Kibunguchy and MPs Julius Arunga, Daniel Khamasi and Davies Nakitare, boycotted the exercise.
Those who attended the national delegates conference were Cabinet minister Noah Wekesa, assistant ministers Ekwee Ethuro, Raphael Wanjala and Moses Wetang'ula and MPs Wafula Wamunyinyi and Sylvester Wakoli.
The NDC also ratified the party's new constitution which paves the way for Ford-K to team up with other political parties in a coalition.
The 3,000 delegates at the venue were taken through the highlights of the constitution by the outgoing legal affairs secretary, Mr Gervase Akhaabi, an MP nominee to the East African Legislative Assembly.
Mr Kombo told the delegates that the decision to join coalitions would not be made by the chairman alone.
Mr Kombo said that his party would fight to retain multipartyism and warned Kenyans that the trend of MPs joining ODM-K and Narc-K was likely to return the country to the dark days of single party rule. "We fought for the repeal of section 2A and we will not allow the era of single party rule back in our politics."
