In writing about the politics of Kenya this week, I must take this early opportunity to send my special and heart-felt condolences to Hon Kalonzo Musyoka who lost his beloved mother in the middle of the ODM rallies last week. Having gone through the same experience in recent months, I know and feel what my good friend must be going through. Like all good colleagues who have known Kalonzo all these years in different capacities, this may be the time to put aside partisan politics and support the Musyoka family in their hour of grief.

The whole nation mourns with you and the rest of your family Hon. Musyoka

In this regard, President Kibaki has shown the way and we applaud his caring attitude under such circumstances. That is as it should be.

And so, it came to pass. The ODM rallies in Eldoret, Kakamega and Kisumu went as planned. If the Eldoret crowd was a mammoth one, the Kakamega crowd was a sea of humanity.

By the time the ODM luminaries reached Kisumu, the lakeside city simply came to a standstill! There was only standing room at the Kenyatta Sports Grounds.

As the ODM luminaries were dancing to the tunes of hei yo! Isukuti, mwana ambere, ohangla and dodo Jaramogi, Narc Kenya was also having a one day- do at Runyenjes in Eastern Province. It was at Runyenjes where the NK luminaries swore to take the ODM head-on.

That was the venue where Beth Mugo and company decided that ODM luminaries were incapable of leading Kenya not because of the future they promise but because of their tainted past!

As a political observer, I would be uncomfortable with the Narc Kenya team if I were President Kibaki. I would do so on realizing that like the Banana team during the referendum last year, they have started in-breeding again. I would feel uneasy because in my opinion, Runyenjes, the rest of Embu, Meru and Central Province are a given Narc Kenya zone. Therefore there should be no need wasting effort and energy preaching to the converted. The sinners and the lost sheep are out there in the Rift Valley, Western and Nyanza provinces where the real fishers of men were, over the weekend.

The battle for political supremacy will not be won or lost in Mt. Kenya area. It will be fought, lost and won in Nyanza, North Eastern, Eastern, Western, Nairobi, Rift Valley, Central and Coast provinces. This war is a national issue. Localising it at the village level will bring casualties to national operators.

The challenge staring the Narc Kenya brigade in the face is to organize successful rallies in Kakamega, Kisumu, Homa Bay, Bondo, Kisii, Kericho, Eldoret, Kitale, Mwingi, Machakos, Kitui, Namanga, Kajiado, Wajir, Marsabit, Garissa, Nakuru, Laikipia, Isiolo, Malindi and Lamu. This is the only way to prove to Kenyans that Narc Kenya is a truly multi- ethnic national party with a following in all parts of Kenya, not just opportunistic individuals masquerading as nationalists.

The challenge is to let Danson Mungatana and Ali Makwere on their own, organize a public rally in the Coast Province without hiding on the coat tails of President Kibaki's presidential entourage to prove that they have a following.

Likewise, let Mukhisa Kituyi organize a similar rally in Kakamega, Bungoma or Busia to measure his popularity as a national leader in his province. If he gets even half of Jirongo's crowd, he will for ever be grateful to his creator.

This is the challenge that must face all Narc Kenya luminaries. Get out of your home grounds and prove your worth to President Kibaki that truly, you are the frontline soldiers ready to do battle with the ODM brigade.

On this score, William Ruto, David Kosgey, Ole N'timama, Musalia Mudavadi, Chris Okemo, Raila Odinga, Anyang' Nyongo' and other leaders from the Rift Valley, Western and Nyanza provinces have proved their worth. They made the impossible happen and the crowds in the three provinces responded with more than enthusiasm.

Perhaps it is too early to decide but if the numbers that turned up at Eldoret, Kakamega and Kisumu were anything to go by, one can, without fear of contradiction predict the outcome of the 2007 elections in the three provinces. We are talking of 5 million votes gone to the Orange team as of last weekend. But as they say, one day in politics is a very long time. Yeyote yaweza kutokea. Anything can happen.

As political observers, we are duty bound to be fair to all sides of the political divide, including the Third Force that may still include Musikari Kombo, Charity Ngilu, Simeon Nyachae, Nicholas Biwott, George Saitoti and several notable characters that have yet to embrace either the Orange or Narc Kenya campaign trains that have started moving.

In so doing, we must continue to remind them that the future of this country depends on how they play their politics for the next fifteen months, if Kibaki allows them to go that far.

What Kenyans need at this time is not destructive politics, politics of mudslinging and bad language that can degenerate into ugly incidents, conflicts and outright civil strife.

As a country, we are past that primitive stage. Let ideas, reason and logic compete for our souls and minds. We have no time for rungus, machetes, spears and arrows. The more reason our leading political lights on both sides of the divide must start paying attention to the Molo massacres, Laikipia skirmishes and North Eastern bandit raids. These spots have become the shame of Kenya internationally. And coming as they are on the eve of 2007 elections, God forbid that this is yet again a precursor to the 2007 elections the way we had them in 1992 and 1997!

The Orange team are saying they want the Kibaki regime out because that regime, whether it is the original Narc that they helped to bring to power or the present Narc Kenya, has failed to deliver on promises made to Kenyans four years ago. And they are not running short of examples of such failures. They are citing the failed Constitution Review, the stalled Corruption war, the failed fight against tribalism, ethnicity, nepotism and cronyism.

All these vices were the main campaign platform for the present regime in 2002.

They are able to point out that today, President Kibaki is running a bloated cabinet against his campaign pledge four years ago, an ethnically skewed cabinet and public service, and a government that has totally failed to manage diversity, land problems, poverty eradication and equitable distribution of resources in all regions of the Republic.

The meritocracy he promised Kenyans in the appointment of cabinet ministers and top public officials did not live beyond Election Day. Zero tolerance on corruption and the pledge not to appoint ministers and permanent secretaries until they declared their wealth wasn't even remembered on the day he appointed his first cabinet.

He threw out the coalition's MoU before he even took up the office on December 30, 2002. By that date, his gates had already been closed to his coalition partners, save for his council of advisors.

If those are the charges preferred against President Kibaki by his ODM political competitors, Narc Kenya on the other hand accuses the ODM group of political hypocrisy, hunger for power and the desire to grab power for selfish reasons.

They believe, rightly or wrongly that the ODM luminaries are a bunch of unreliable individuals that cannot take Kenya anywhere. They contend that the behaviour of this group can only be compared to a jilted lover who, in a rage must unleash her fury on the ex- husband or wife as the case may be.

More importantly, they contend that all these ODM big wigs; Raila, Kalonzo, Ole N'Timama, Okemo, Mudavadi, Kosgey, Musila, Kamotho, Uhuru, Ruto and Otieno were all ministers in the past regime of Moi. That it was in their time that Kenya's economy was brought to its knees. That it was in their time that Kenya became a one- part state officially. That it was in their time that the repressive regime of President Moi thrived and flourished. That during that period, land grabbing and state coffers were raided the most. Therefore they have nothing to offer Kenyans now or in the future. If anything, some of them should right now be languishing in jail!

However, if the ODM luminaries committed all these deadly crimes against Kenya, some of which are true to some extent, then where would the Narc Kenya clean politicians place President Mwai Kibaki, George Saitoti, Njenga Karume, Simeon Nyachae, George Muhoho, John Michuki and many more prominent figures in the present regime that served Moi so well for so long?

Have they forgotten that President Kibaki was Moi's deputy for 10 years before Saitoti occupied the same slot for close to fourteen years? Where would they place Njenga Karume who even re-defected to Moi's Kanu on the eve of the 2002 elections? What would they say about Vice President Moody Awori who served as Moi's assistant minister for over two decades? What about Simeon Nyachae who served Moi as a Provincial Commissioner, a Permanent Secretary, Chief Secretary and Head of the Civil Service before joining his cabinet in several capacities?

What I am trying to say here is that any attempt at playing the blame game will not wash with Kenyans. This country has matured politically to fall to cheap propaganda from either side. Right now we are more concerned with righting the wrongs we have made in the past and moving on with our lives.

The problem is; we are not in a position to import angels from heaven to come and run our government. We have to make do with our local sinners. All we will ask them to show is genuine repentance and the capacity to rise from the ashes with a new conviction to help us move forward.

To the Narc team, please remember that we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. This is not the time to point at the speck in our neighbour's eyes yet fail to see the log in our own. To me this would be the real hypocrisy.

Finally, if I were President Kibaki and was keen to run for a second term, I would defect to ODM Kenya today, not tomorrow!