Narc dream fades as Karua puts last nail in party coffin

What’s in a name? It is commonplace for political parties to rebrand, which sometimes means changing names, slogans, colours and even symbols.

The law provides for a fully registered political party to rebrand and whenever such a situation arises, it is required to notify the Registrar of Political Parties of its intention.

The latest to make this move is Martha Karua-led Narc Kenya party which will now be known as People’s Liberation Party (PLP), to be launched next month.

“I have been leader of Narc Kenya but we have rebranded. We will be launching our brand next month and the name is PLP. We applied for those names in May last year long before the protests but the process is just becoming complete,” Karua said.

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Amid reports that plans are underway for former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua to launch a new party after his fallout with United Democratic Alliance (UDA), Karua still invited him to her ‘house’ for a common and united course.

“I have heard that he (Gachagua) is likely to be launching but I am inviting you all, it is a big house and if you want to join us you are welcome. If you form another one, we will still accept it because we will still work together. We belong to different denominations but we always come together and so is the case for political parties,” she said, when Gachagua visited her home.

“I know many of us have said will be vying for presidency but this time we say the nation is greater than our ambitions. Allow me to grow my ambition for presidency and grow my brand, let my brothers grow their brand somewhere else but we must know that as we near that time, we must come together and get one flagbearer,” she added.

Karua’s move has signaled the death of the rainbow dream that once plunged Kenya into euphoric jubilation 23 years ago. This was the year Kanu’s 39 year’s rule was stopped by the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc).

Democratic space

Narc had been formed following years of heightened agitation to expand the democratic space. But as fate would have it, Narc was a shadow five years later and like many other parties before, it disintegrated, splintering into Narc and Narc-Kenya.

When Narc was born in 2001, it was a force to reckon with. It comprised politicians who were firebrand and believed in the power of their dreams. 

As the country was preparing for 2002 elections, several parties including the National Alliance of Kenya (NAK) came together with Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to form Narc.

Narc’s candidate the late President Mwai Kibaki who was working with other prominent leaders like Raila Odinga, Michael Wamalwa and Charity Ngilu, won with a landslide.

Narc had a vision to attain a free, just and democratic society with equitable distribution of resources and opportunities for all while the mission revolved around accountability through participatory democracy.

Management and leadership expert, Prof Gitile Naituli yesterday said the Narc dream was completely lost and drowned in 2013.

“In 2013, that’s when we lost it, because Narc was a government that followed the budget. Right now, there is no financial profit. The government almost everything for administration,” he said.

He said the whole idea of Vision 2030 was because there was 90 per cent of the money to allocate priority projects and such things got lost from 2013 up to now.

He however said Karua is one of the Kenyans who would steer the government to the right path. “Karua is one of those Kenyans, who, if she takes the government, nobody will be allowed to steal one shilling. She is patriotic but how many Kenyans would support her?” He posed.

Political analyst Martin Andati said the Narc dream died a long time ago, saying the passing on of Wamalwa, a key partner of the party, was yet another blow. “The death of Wamalwa caused a big blow to Kibaki. Similarly, Kibaki got captured by the Mt Kenya ‘mafia’, who tribalised the whole thing and that is what led to President Kibaki losing the banana-orange referendum,” he said.

“After Wamalwa died, the Kiambu ‘mafia’ took captive of Kibaki and also refused to fulfill the MoU, which was supposed to make Raila Prime Minister. They tribalised the civil service, captured the state to the exclusion of the rest of the Kenyans and that is what killed the Narc dream,” Andati explained.

However, Karua is optimistic of uniting and liberating Kenya, adding that this journey has begun and the party will work with everyone. “We need every person of goodwill to join hand to push back because the rogue Ruto regime is determined to oppress Kenyans. It is a merciless regime that resembles the oppressive colonial regime,” she said.