Kenyatta Era Succession
The crucial problem facing the government establishment once the opposition had been stilled was to ensure that the political system would survive Kenyatta. Under the constitution, the vice president took over if the president died or was permanently incapacitated, but his powers were circumscribed to arranging for a presidential election within three months. Candidates were to be nominated by the recognized political parties — of which only one, KANU, existed in 1976.
The question of succession was brought into the open, complete with strong ethnic overtones, during a party rally held at Nakuru in the autumn of 1976 where a constitutional amendment was discussed that would have entrusted interim presidential authority to the Speaker of the National Assembly, rather than to the vice president (Moi), during the 90-day period between the death or resignation of the president and the election of a successor. Introduced by Kihika Kimani, the member of parliament from Nakuru who had been a government stalwart during the debate on the Kariuki affair, the measure was backed by GEMA. But many believed that it was prompted by Kenyatta himself to test the waters and that it reflected his will.
The proposed amendment was actively opposed at the rally, however, by a group of 98 members of parliament who would have possessed sufficient voting strength to defeat the measure had it been introduced in the National Assembly. This group was led by Njonjo, Moi's chief partisan within the inner circle, and by Stanley Oloitipitip, the minister of natural resources who had characterized the proposal as being "unethical [and] immoral." It was Njonjo who brought the debate to a sudden halt, when speaking in his capacity as attorney general, he reminded delegates at the rally that speculating about Kenyatta's death was a treasonable offense.
The old guard still had political capital to invest in blocking the succession of a non-Kikuyu to the presidency. The question of who would succeed Kenyatta as president of Kenya had become one of who would succeed him as leader of KANU. In the absence of another party, KANU would nominate a candidate who would be unopposed, and it was reasonable to assume that the deputy leader of the party, who followed Kenyatta as party president, would receive the nomination. Since 1966, however, when the multiple vice presidency was introduced, KANU had not had a clearly defined second-in-command.
In the meantime KANU had become moribund, something to be mobilized for rallies and elections but lacking direction or responsibilities. It had gone for 10 years without elections for party offices, and the last party convention had been held in 1971.
Under the plan devised by Kenyatta after the defeat of the constitutional amendment on the presidency, grass-roots elections were to be conducted in late 1976 to select delegates who would in turn elect a single national party vice president. Rival slates of candidates were committed to Mungai, representing the old guard, and Moi, and places on them were sought by politicians eager to identify with one or another camp and to assure themselves of a political base for the future.
The ethnic element was important in the voting, which extended over several weeks, but was not considered decisive. As a result of the grass- roots vote, Mungai could count on the support of delegations from eight predominantly Kikuyu constituencies, and Moi from eight in the Kalenjin belt. The remaining 25 were split or undeclared. Moi had strong support from Maasai districts and in Coast Province and also from Kikuyu farmers in Rift Valley Province. He had also won the backing of some of Mungai's rivals in the Kikuyu hierarchy. His chief opponents outside Mungai's Kikuyu constituencies were found among young party activists who, although not necessarily favoring Mungai as an alternative, resented Moi's business interests and landholdings; he had additional opponents among the Luo and former KPU members who were die-hard supporters of Odinga.
The campaign leading up to the party convention to win over uncommitted delegates accentuated the deep divisions within KANU. On April 2, 1977, the day before the scheduled election for which delegates had already assembled in Nairobi, Kenyatta from his residence at Gatundu suddenly canceled the vote, leaving the question of succession unresolved. Some sources, in fact, believed that this was the intention of the aging president, who feared that Moi, his personal choice to succeed, might be defeated. He announced that a general election would be conducted in 1979.
On 22 August 1978, Jomo Kenyatta died of natural causes brought on by the advance of old age. Having assumed transitional executive powers as prescribed in the constitution, Moi, in the absence of another candidate, was declared president on October 10. Mwai Kibaki, a prominent member of Kenyatta's inner circle but not one of the Kiambu group, was named vice president. Koinange, the leader of the Kiambu old guard who had earlier sought to prevent Moi from becoming president, was retained in the cabinet but in a position of much less importance than that which he had held previously. Moi set out as his administration's priorities to heal ethnic cleavages and remove the "tribal" factor from Kenyan politics, to stamp out corruption, and to deal with unemployment. Political detainees, including Seroney, Shikuku, and Anyona, were released by presidential order.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
