By Gakuu Mathenge

Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka’s bid to woo Mt Kenya region to back him for the 2012 General Election is a throwback to the heady Kenyatta succession days in the 1970s.

The main political players in the region then were split between those supporting Kenyatta’s Vice-President, Daniel arap Moi, and a group led by then Cabinet minister and Kenyatta’s nephew Njoroge Mungai.

Mungai group was against Moi being the automatic heir and wanted elections held to determine Kenyatta’s successor.

Leading the charge for Moi was then Finance Minister Mwai Kibaki and powerful Attorney General Charles Njonjo.

PNU endorsement is critical for Kalonzo, just as the Moi-Kibaki-Njonjo trio fought to gain control of Kanu in 1977 party elections, against Mungai’s group that wanted to steer the Kenyatta succession.

Currently, line-ups of supporters have emerged. Some have endorsed Kalonzo, praising him for joining Kibaki and stabilising the country at the height of a disputed presidential vote, last year. Others think a candidate from the region still has a chance to muster sufficient numbers to win.

The VP’s major challenge remains finding and keeping loyal supporters in the region to back him, beyond expressions of gratitude.

Kangundo MP and ally of Kalonzo, Johnstone Muthama, acknowledges gratitude alone cannot take the VP far.

"Central Province is free to vote in whichever way they like. Kalonzo did it out of his responsibility as a leader to end violence and stabilise the country. Talking about small rivers joining big rivers is ignorance of where the country is going; 2012 will be fought on different issues," Muthama says.

But the VP, and others eyeing the region’s voting bloc, should take solace in the fact that central Kenya has never been politically united during transitions.

Not everyone in Central Province was enthusiastic about Kenyatta taking over from Her Majesty as Head of State.

In Not Yet Uhuru, pioneer nationalist and Kenyatta backer, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, laments some leading political lights of the time — among them Jeremiah Nyaga, Julius Gikonyo Kiano and James Gichuru — exhibited inclination to abandon agitation for Kenyatta’s release as a pre-condition for joining Government.

Prof Jennifer Widner of University of California, Berkeley, says in her book, The Rise of Party-State in Kenya, Kenyatta succession split central Kenya political elite.

In 2002, central Kenya vote was split between Kibaki (Narc) and Uhuru (Kanu).

Although nearly all central Kenya MPs have openly acknowledged Kalonzo’s decision to join Kibaki turned PNU’s fortunes around, key players are still ambivalent about endorsing him.

"We are building structures that will conduct primaries for all candidates to select a flag bearer," says PNU Secretary General Kiraitu Murungi.

A number of MPs and ministers have consistently identified with the VP, and a discernible line-up of supporters is emerging.

The latest endorsement comes from Environment Minister John Michuki, the only heavyweight to unequivocally endorse Kalonzo. "We cannot abandon a man like this after all he did," Michuki said of Kalonzo at his Kangema constituency.

Assistant Minister Mwangi Kiunjuri took it further: "The mistrust against the Kikuyu can be addressed if Central Province supports a presidential candidate from a minority community. I will back such a person."

Kalonzo also has to contend with Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, currently considered the region’s most influential politician.

Lawyer Kamotho Waiganjo says the region cares less about personalities or where they come from, so long as they are perceived to be pro-enterprise.

Contacted, the V-P said: "It is not time for succession politics, our priority is constitution and Agenda Four reforms. President Kibaki is in charge, and we’re all called upon to assist him run the country."