THE youngest son of Tom Joseph Mboya has registered a new political party.
Tom Mboya Jnr, a brother in law of Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero, has registered a party called Democratic Congress.
The party was issued with a provisional registration certificate last week, with Mboya Jnr as its first Chairman.
Yesterday Kidero denied any knowledge of the party.
“I’m not even aware of such a party, let alone associate with it,” said Kidero.
Kidero has previously been reported to be looking to register his won political party in case ODM dumps him for whatever reason.
In an exclusive interview with the Star, Mboya Jnr maintained that having a Presidential candidate in the next polls is not a priority for the new outfit.
“What is important for us now is to set up a political party with a strong value-driven ethos. We want to offer principled leadership to inspire and mobilise all Kenyans to overcome past disappointments,” Mboya Jnr said.
Kidero is married to Susan Mboya, a daughter (and half-sister of Mboya Jnr) of the legendary Mboya Snr, who was assassinated in 1969.
The late Minister for Economic Planning was the founder of the Nairobi People’s Congress Party and a key pillar in the formation of Independence party Kanu.
Speaking to the Star, Mboya promised that Democratic Congress will field candidates in all the other elective positions in 2017.
In what may set the stage for a scramble especially of the Nyanza votes, Mboya dismissed the country’s main political players – Cord and Jubilee – saying that they have completely failed to decisively deal with corruption and impunity.
“We want to offer alternative leadership because the big coalitions have failed Kenyans. They have very little difference in terms of ideology, how they conduct themselves and what they offer to Kenyans,” he said.
To appeal to the larger Kenyan electorate, the party has appointed one Stanley Kamau as the Secretary General while Eva Mutua is the Organising Secretary.
The entry of Mboya’s family into elective politics is likely to be a game changer in Nyanza, especially in Homa Bay County, the native home of the one-time fierce trade unionist.
It also rekindles memories of bad blood between the late Mboya and the doyen of Kenyan opposition politics, the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, father of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
The two were never the best of friends, with Odinga Snr seeing Mboya as too friendly to the “authoritarian” government of President Jomo Kenyatta and Mboya, a darling of the Americans in the Cold War face-off, viewing the Jaramogi as an agent of the East.
There has been a silent supremacy contest between Kidero and Cord leader Raila, with indications that the Nairobi County chief may well chart his own political course.
Source-the-star.co.ke
