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Subject: Campaign Shows Power Of Kenya's Ruling Party; Reformers Losing Battle in 'KANU
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 92 05:41:19 EST
Message-ID: <42.1992Nov9.054120@AmeriCast.com>

Campaign Shows Power Of Kenya's Ruling Party; Reformers Losing
Battle in 'KANU Country'<By Keith B. Richburg<Washington Post
Foreign Service=

CHEPKORIO, Kenya - At first glance, Nicholas Biwott might seem an
easy political target.  Biwott, who has held the parlimentary
seat for this Kerio Valley district in western Kenya since 1978,
has fairly or unfairly come to personify the greed and abuse of
the country's entrenched ruling party, the Kenya African National
Union (KANU).

When Kenyans and foreign diplomats talk of corruption, they men-
tion Biwott. When ethnic clashes erupted across Kenya earlier
this year, claiming hundreds of lives, the Kenyan media and many
opposition politicians blamed Biwott. And when a Scotland Yard
investigator probed the mysterious, brutal slaying of a Kenyan
foreign minister, Biwott was named as a principal suspect. He was
arrested last year in connection with the case but was later
released.

Biwott - who once described himself in Parliament as "a total
man" - calls the controversies swirling around him "mere imagina-
tions, mere allegations. . . . There is no truth whatsoever to
those allegations," he said in a rare interview. "It's all poli-
tics, by people who want to undermine my success in politics."

Despite it all, Biwott looks like a sure bet to win reelection to
Parliament in next month's multi-party elections. And despite the
ruling party's unpopularity among many Kenyans who blame it - and
its leader, President Daniel arap Moi - for the country's steady
economic decline, endemic corruption and a violent resurgence of
tribalism, KANU may yet emerge the overall winner in the upcoming
voting.

The Dec. 7 elections for Parliament and the all-powerful
presidency will offer Kenyan voters a choice, for the first time
in more than a quarter-century, of candidates from several par-
ties. But that choice is not likely to extend far here in the
fertile Rift Valley area, which might best be called "KANU coun-
try."<

Moi, who is running as KANU's presidential candidate, can count
on the loyalty of a vast civil service that works, often in sub-
tle ways, for the ruling party. And in regions dominated by the
small Kalenjin tribe, to which Biwott and Moi belong - areas
dubbed "KANU zones" - opposition politicians have been harassed,
their offices have been burned down, and they have been denied
permits to hold public rallies.

The Rift Valley has more parliamentary seats - 44 of 188 - than
any other part of Kenya. With the opposition effectively locked
out of much of the valley, either through intimidation or simple
resignation, Moi and KANU began the election campaign with what
is perhaps the largest base of support of any party. "That whole
Kalenjin area is closed for all intents and purposes," said a di-
plomat in Nairobi. "That's all Moi territory up there."

"They tell you this is a KANU zone," said Thomas Opuka, education
director of the Church of the Province of Kenya diocese in nearby
Eldoret. "Because people have been scared so much, they dare not
vote for opposition parties."

"You can rig elections psychologically," Opuka said. "Our assess-
ment is that the elections have already been rigged. The polling
day will just be the last paragraph." In districts such as the
one here in Kerio South, it would appear that political change
can come only from within the ruling party itself.

Enter Tabitha Seii, a teacher and card-carrying life member of
KANU who is waging an insurgent campaign to unseat Biwott for the
ruling party's nomination.

Seii differs from opposition politicians contesting seats this
year in that she calls herself a committed KANU stalwart and a
supporter of Moi who wants to see the party change from within.

But in her unlikely quest, Seii is having trouble being heard -
literally. As she traverses the district with her husband in a
four-wheel-drive vehicle, she is constantly followed by Biwott
supporters in cars and vans. Whenever she stops her car to meet
potential voters, Biwott's loyalists jump out immediately behind
her, exhorting the confused voters to chant Biwott's name.

Election observers, including some from the United States, will
come to Kenya to assess whether the general election is free and
fair. But in areas such as this one, where the real battles are
determined in party primaries that are to conclude by Wednesday,
foreign observers are nowhere to be seen. Primaries are con-
sidered internal party affairs, and in most cases candidate
selections take place far from public view.

"There is only KANU here," Seii said. "For us, the primaries are
final."

On Nov. 1, the district called a meeting to allow "the people" to
decide how to select the KANU candidate - by secret ballot,
favored by Seii, or open ballot, a system in which voters line up
or raise hands to show which candidate they support. Seii said
the open system would allow Biwott to manipulate the process,
since many voters who might support her would be afraid to show
their support publicly. But when she tried to speak at the meet-
ing, to argue in favor of the secret ballot, she was shouted down
by Biwott supporters, and eventually her microphone was turned
off.

Biwott said he does not prefer either system. "It is up to the
people to decide which method we use," he said.

While many attribute Biwott's political survival to intimidation,
to his close ties to Moi and to his mastery of Kenyan political
nuance, he said his popularity stems from the fact that "the peo-
ple are happy with my record of development for the area." Seii,
however, maintains that development in the district actually has
suffered under the controversial politician.

The main road here is paved with tarmac, but side roads are most-
ly dirt tracks that become virtually impassable in the rainy sea-
son, preventing farmers from moving their corn and potatoes to
market. Large areas of the district are still without electrici-
ty, which Seii says is Biwott's way of punishing perceived op-
ponents. And while Biwott has built some schools, including one
that bears his name, others are in disrepair. Seii showed report-
ers a school that was little more than cardboard and sticks, with
a tin roof and wet mud for a floor.

"We do not enjoy the goods we are supposed to have," Seii said.
"We don't have a (gas) station. We don't have a hotel to put
visitors in. I'm taking him on on education."

Biwott said he agreed that more development was needed, but he
said it was a problem across the entire country, not just in his
district. He added, however, that Kerio South now "is a lot
better than what it used to be."

Seii said she believes she could win in a free and fair election.
But she said she does not believe the primary in Kerio South will
be anything approaching fair.

"He's inflicted fear into people's hearts," she said of Biwott.
"People are scared of him." She accused Biwott of using his
wealth to, in essence, "buy" votes by distributing cash to people
at election time.

Biwott said he is aware he has a reputation as "a monster." But
he added: "When you see me, you see that this is a different per-
son altogether. I challenge anybody to prove any of those allega-
tions. It's all media-created, to tarnish me for no reason at
all."

During a recent campaign trip through the district, Biwott's car
crawled down the main road as the candidate handed money out the
window to poor people who lined the roadside, shouting his name
and giving the KANU salute.

Biwott denied widely circulated allegations that he amassed a
fortune from the time he served as Moi's energy minister until he
was fired last year after being implicated in the 1990 slaying of
foreign minister Robert Ouko.

"I had what I have before I went to Parliament," Biwott said.
Later, in a separate interview, he said, "I'm not a rich man, but
I'm not poor, either."

Asked if he intended to remain in Kenya if Moi and KANU lost
power - in the face of opposition vows to investigate the "hidden
wealth" of KANU stalwarts - Biwott smiled. "How can a total man
run away from Kenya?" he asked.<05:02 11-09C9999-----

Copyright 1992, The Washington Post.  This story is from the
Washington Post's Capitol Edition On-Line and is not to be ar-
chived or redistributed.

For more information, send-email to American Cybercasting Cor-
poration (usa@AmeriCast.COM)