APK forms committee to select presidential candidate

By Athman Amran

The Alliance Party of Kenya (APK) has formed a National Governing Committee (NGC) mandated to come up with the party’s presidential candidate within one month.

The NGC, which comprises four delegates from the 47 counties under the national party officials, is mandated to choose between Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka and Party of National Unity (PNU) chairman Prof George Saitoti.

The decision was arrived at during the party’s first National Delegates Convention (NDC) held at the Bomas of Kenya in Nairobi Saturday, and which was attended by 10 MPs associated with PNU and its affiliate parties. The party held the NDC after completing its grassroots elections.

Uhuru, Kalonzo and Saitoti are expected to continue strengthening their respective political parties ahead of the joint nomination.

The three are leaders of The National Alliance party, the Wiper Democratic Movement and PNU respectively. The strategy is to select a presidential candidate and a running mate and have one of the three become leader of the majority party in Parliament to lock out ODM from exercising any power in the next Government.

However, during Saturday’s NDC, none of the three leaders was present although party coordinator Kiraitu Murungi told the delegates that the selection of team had their blessings.

Kiraitu said the three were bound by an agreement to work under APK as an umbrella body, which they had signed on October 1, 2010, at the Norfolk Hotel in Nairobi.

The Energy minister displayed a copy of the signed agreement, where the three leaders resolved to transform PNU coalition into a PNU-Alliance, which has now changed its name to APK.

“I was leading the committee to organise the formation of the alliance. We did our work and formed the alliance as instructed by the three leaders,” Kiraitu said adding that David Ngugi signed the document on behalf of the small parties within the PNU coalition.