When a little-known Team MK mobilisers emerged yesterday and threw Dr Mukhisa Kituyi’s name into the ring as a potential presidential candidate for 2022, they introduced a new dynamic in the race – and, perhaps, a moderating effect on local politics.
In the last few months, there has been talk of a neutral candidate – even within President Kenyatta’s circles – with Dr Kituyi’s name mentioned as an alternative candidate.
But whether he is a decoy or a serious hopeful will be seen by how his candidature takes shape in the coming months.
However, the emergence of Team MK in public might be the latest indicator that the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Secretary-General could be considering the presidency as his next target.
So far, only Deputy President William Ruto – his Jubilee problems notwithstanding – has indicated interest in the seat, while there is speculation that Raila Odinga could try, once again, to go for the seat that has dodged him four times.
Whether the entry of Dr Kituyi could undo the Uhuru-Ruto-Raila political gridlock, which has created strong political camps, and offer a strong third-party alternative in this race without an incumbent on the ballot, is what political pundits will be watching.
While some Jubilee Party stalwarts like deputy chairman David Murathe have been pushing for a Raila Odinga presidency, and told Kenyans to prepare for it, some insiders, too, have been talking of a third candidate. Still others believe that Odinga’s candidature could be the decoy.
But while still believing that Mr Odinga was the right candidate Mr Murathe yesterday said Dr Kituyi “could be part of the formation” from Western Kenya that includes Kakamega governor Wycliffe Oparanya and Cotu Secretary-General Francis Atwoli.
With his term as the seventh Secretary General of UNCTAD coming to an end on 31 August, 2021, the launch of a lobby group on the anniversary of his seven-year tenure at the global body was more than a coincidence. It was also done to coincide with the start of his final year at the helm of a UN body that deals with trade, investment and development issues.
During Sunday’s low-key press conference, the group said that Dr Kituyi has “international repute and recognition” – which has normally been used by former UN body leaders to launch their candidature.
If he runs for the presidency, Dr Kituyi will join others who have used their international connections on the global and Africa stage to run for political power. For instance, Malawi’s former president, the late Mbingu wa Mutharika, used his position as secretary-general of the 22-nation Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa to run and win.
Liberia’s former president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf left her position as assistant secretary-general of the United Nations Development Programme's Regional Bureau for Africa to run and win the country’s presidency. She had also worked at the World Bank.
When former Cabinet Minister Burudi Nabwera told a local daily in June that Dr Kituyi “can make a very good president” , he may not have been speaking out of the blue. “Kituyi is someone who can be ruthless in the war against graft,” said Nabwera, a former powerful politician from western Kenya.
It was a line that was also picked by the lobby group yesterday with members presenting Dr Kituyi as an untainted man: “Dr Kituyi has never been mentioned anywhere in corruption, or corruption related activities. When he was minister for Trade and Industry in the Kibaki government, he performed exceptionally well and our GDP grew by eight per cent,” the group said.
Dr Kituyi’s success will also depend on whether Mr Odinga will lend his support to the man who hid him in his residence in Mountain View Estate, Nairobi, as he brokered his flight to exile in Norway when President Moi was hunting him down. By then, Dr Kituyi was working with the Norwegian Embassy in Nairobi.
"I am not aware of his political plans. So far he has not reached to us over any working relationship," ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna said.
His sentiments were shared by party chairman John Mbadi and the director of elections and campaigns, Mr Junet Mohammed.
Recent activities within the lacklustre Ford-Kenya party have all the indications that it was going through some internal changes though Dr Kituyi has kept off the wrangles – perhaps to maintain a distance.
The former Kimilili MP left the troubled Ford and joined Narc-Kenya before decamping to New Ford-Kenya, one of the outfits that folded in 2013 to form the ruling Jubilee Party.
The Ford-Kenya wrangles saw the removal of Moses Wetang’ula and his replacement with Kanduyi lawmaker Wafula Wamunyinyi as the interim party leader.
Mr Wamunyinyi claimed that Dr Kituyi had welcomed the changes – though later on, Dr Kituyi told a local daily that he had nothing to do “with those shenanigans”.
Sources say that Dr Kituyi was gathering support from professionals and high-profile business people and that he could offer the “best alternative” in Kenya’s muddled politics.
As Kenya’s highest ranking diplomat within the UN system – a lofty role that allows him to hobnob with heads of states and governments – Dr Kituyi at the moment enjoys more international limelight, second only to the president. But his role has cut him from local politics, where he is removed from succession turmoil that has seen political parties start regrouping ahead of President Kenyatta’s exit.
How he will balance his job and the planning for a return to national politics will be a poser, though he remains a man to watch.
The last time he appeared on national television, he paid tribute to President Kenyatta for kick-starting the war on corruption. He threw a challenge to Kenyans, to draw a line that “from this moment no thief should be elected into public office. We must expunge thieves from the public office,” he said.
But in Bungoma politics, he was brought down in 2007 when he sided with Mwai Kibaki’s Party of National Unity. His attempt to run for the Bungoma Senate seat in 2013 saw him trounced once again, bringing his meteoric rise to a halt.
President Kenyatta has had a soft spot for Dr Kituyi with the UNCTAD boss managing to bring key contacts to State House.
It was Dr Kituyi who introduced President Kenyatta to Jack Ma, the billionaire who this year donated Covid-19 kits to the country. He also introduced him to Rwanda’s Paul Kagame.
How he cultivates both local and international contacts to his advantage will determine whether Dr Kituyi will emerge as a serious alternative. But can President Kenyatta’s men throw their weight behind him, or is he yet another decoy? That is the question some insiders are asking – though time will tell.
