Karua shoots down 2012 coalition talks

Narc Kenya leader Martha Karua has reiterated that her party will go it alone in the next presidential elections.

She also dismissed plans by the PNU brigade to rope her in the nomination a single candidate to vie for the presidency, saying she was setting her sights on the national vote.

“I will not be party to nominations to have a single candidate from Central Province. Let all parties that feel they have the popularity to contest for the presidency, battle it out at the ballot box,” she said.

Recently, leaders from the PNU side of the coalition announced plans to reach out to other parties and presidential contenders, among them Ms Karua and Peter Kenneth, to seek a stronger coalition to fight it out with ODM in 2012.

In their proposals, PNU rivals, vice president Kalonzo Musyoka, George Saitoti (Internal Security), and Uhuru Kenyatta (Deputy Prime Minister) agreed to rope in the two other contenders in primaries to come up with a PNU flag bearer.

But Ms Karua’s refusal deals a blow to the PNU brigade whose hopes of having a formidable team in the 2012 contest have come a cropper.

The Gichugu MP was speaking at Mweiga High school in Kieni West district during a meeting with party officials from Nyeri County.

Ms Karua said she was confident she would clinch the presidency, saying Narc Kenya was growing in popularity.

She said the party will soon hold national grassroots elections to comply with the political parties Act.

The party got a boost in popularity after winning the Makadara and Juja parliamentary seats in by-elections held after the seats were declared vacant following successful election petitions.