Yes, timing is paramount in hunt for power

Parliament at a past session [Boniface Okendo | Standard]

A few months to the 2002 General Election, a group of ambitious former university students hatched a sinister plot that could have altered Kenya’s political equation then. They planned to ‘abduct’ then Local Government minister Musalia Mudavadi for a few weeks then ‘unleash’ him onto an expectant nation as the ‘alternative’ presidential candidate.

Kanu had surprised many with the choice of Uhuru Kenyatta as the party’s flagbearer in that election and several veteran politicians had to regroup and pick one widely acceptable candidate. Indeed, that is when Raila Odinga came up with the ‘Kibaki Tosha’ slogan and caught everyone else flat-footed and they had to agree on Mwai Kibaki as the Opposition candidate. The rest is history — and hysteria.