It was at the beginning of 1993 that I vied for the position that was to give me a national profile.
The process of electing the Speaker of the National Assembly was intense, zero-sum and bruising. In a rapidly shifting legislative landscape, characterised by the entrance of the opposition in law-making, State House and other key organs were keen to safeguard whatever influence they could exert in the nation without facing too much by way of scrutiny.
To be elected Speaker under the standing orders, one was required to garner two-thirds of the votes in the House.
If that figure was not reached in round one, then the process was to be repeated. If, on the second round, nobody garnered the two-thirds of the votes, a third round of voting was undertaken.
In this round, whoever won by a simple majority was declared the Speaker of the National Assembly.
The new House then comprised one 110 members from the ruling party, Kanu, and 100 representing the totality of opposition parties, all of whom were elected members.
Under the laws of the Constitution, the President was entitled to nominate 12 persons as members of the National Assembly, including myself.
The house, therefore, had a total strength of 222 members, excluding the Attorney-General, who was an ex-officio member.
Of these 222 members, 121 were present for the voting. As a candidate, I could not vote.
The voting was strictly on party lines, and for that reason, nobody could get the requisite two-thirds majority votes to win.
The lobbying and jostling to keep the troops in check was intense on both sides.
My name was proposed by none other than the Member for Baringo Central, who also happened to be leader of the ruling party, KANU, and the Head of State: President Daniel arap Moi himself.
He was seconded by Prof George Saitoti, the countrys Vice-President. On the basis of their strong voice, the ruling party settled the matter of its candidate. I would battle it out with whomever the opposition had chosen as its candidate for the position. This wasnt going to be easy!
Genesis of proposalI suspect that by the time President Moi proposed my name to become Speaker of the House, he had progressively come to terms with the growing restlessness in Kenya as the nations elected politicians struggled to understand their new roles in an open society.
He had also witnessed my resolve at Kasarani Sports Complex, back in December 1991, when I was still in the rather junior post of Assistant Labour Minister. There, at the KANU Delegates Conference, I was the foolhardy one who went against the grain and urged him to let Kenya revert to a multi-party state. On the first morning of the conference December 4 I had watched in dismay as sycophants fell over themselves, urging the Head of State not to heed the call of those calling for plurality in Kenya, and to ignore the pressure piled on him by the West.
Against them was a group of agitators, fronted by the likes of Kenneth Matiba, Martin Shikuku and Raila Odinga.
Inspiring other disaffected patriots throughout the country, they had in recent years provided a chorus of shrill voices demanding fundamental change in the governance of the nation.
Participatory democracy and political accountability was their watchword.
Delegates at Kasarani urged the Head of State to ignore them. Their chorus was deafening.
KANU is a strong party!
We are a sovereign nation!
You cannot fell a Mugumo tree with a razor blade!
The opposition is serving foreign masters!
Money has been poured!
And that was the first day. On the second day of the conference, I had my chance to address the gathering just briefly after I stood to seek the attention of the Master of Ceremonies, the then Deputy Speaker, Kalonzo Musyoka.
The poignancy of my words ensured that I was to be the first and last speaker of that fateful day. After paying the necessary homage to the strengths and virtues of the ruling party, I urged the Head of State to let us face our detractors, as I was certain we would vanquish them at the polls and outplay them in the National Assembly.
As soon as I was done speaking, President Moi stood up and adjourned the meeting. There was dead silence. Kaparo was finished!
In that moment, I faced a barrage of intimidating feedback. The only compliment I got was from Philip Leakey, who at that time was the Assistant Minister for Natural Resources and MP for Langata.
