Reviving vows of a political marriage that died in 1965

President Jomo Kenyatta and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga in December 1965 [File]

How can it be that hot political lava sprouting out of a volcanic mountain can mix with fresh cool waters from the lake to produce calming effect on a country’s political temperatures?

It happened 58 years ago and it is likely to happen again this weekend. The snow-capped Mt Kenya will be showered with waters from the lake to produce what some political architects believe will answer the question.

In 1960, when Kenya was birthing its first republic, the colonial government was determined to keep the country divided by nurturing very many coalitions against the dominant communities which had coalesced in Kanu.

Some of the leading colonialists, Michael Blundell, Reginald Alexander and Wilfred Havelock formed a coalition of what they called a small white tribe to oppose the Kikuyu and the Luo.

In their efforts to alienate the leaders of the main political party then, these colonialists said Kenya was not ready to be ruled by elitist Julius Kiano and Tom Mboya. They organised a coalition bringing together pastoral and nomadic communities so that they could oppose "a Mau Mau and a communist" in reference Jomo Kenyatta and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga.  

This is how the General Election held in May 1963 for the 129 seats for House of Representatives and 41 regional assemblies saw Kanu prevail against rival coalition Kadu.

At that time, Jomo and Jaramogi were working against the colonial government to access power.

Now the sons of these founders, Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga are trying to formulate a big coalition that will retain power.

Theirs is a strange coalition for the incumbent has partnered with the opposition so that the latter can capture power.

In a bizarre way, the current happenings mirror what happened in 1963 when shortly after the elections the official opposition party Kadu crossed over to the government side.

The coalition by Uhuru and Raila, Azimio la Umoja, is being formed a few months to the elections. Unlike in 1963, the government is on their side but they are wary that power may slip through their fingers.

This weekend Uhuru and Raila are leading their formations into a marriage that will for the first time in six decades formally bring the two families on the same political side. Kanu, too is still in the picture of the current architecture of coalition building.