It is now official that former ruling party Kanu will back President Uhuru Kenyatta’s re-election in the August 8 poll.
Kanu Secretary General Nick Salat confirmed the decision after a National Executive Council meeting at Lake Nakuru Lodge on Thursday, with officials including party leader Gideon Moi.
“It has been agreed that Kanu will support Uhuru in the poll. This was after wide consultation,” he said as quoted by The Star.
The decision is a blow to attempts by the National Super Alliance (NASA) to work with Kanu, which still enjoys enormous influence in the vote-rich Rift Valley region.
Kanu had at some point been seen to gravitate towards NASA after Nick Salat attended a meeting at the Bomas of Kenya in Nairobi and announced that the former ruling party would support NASA.
But on Thursday, Salat said the decision to back Jubilee was reached after a vote. He said he voted against it but that majority of the party’s members supported Uhuru.
Salat’s vote was one of two who voted against Jubilee according to nominated Senator Zipporah Kittony.
The decision comes after Uhuru’s personal call to Gideonadvising him against joining the National Super Alliance.
The President, according to a source in the Moi family, urged the Baringo senator to back his re-election and lead the former ruling party to work with Jubilee. Details of Moi’s response were not disclosed.
Uhuru Kenyatta also paid retired president Daniel Moi a visit last week at his Kabarnet Gardens residence.
In January, Uhuru’s mother, Mama Ngina Kenyatta, also visited Moi at his Kabarak home in Nakuru.
