The National Alliance

The National Alliance
Leader Uhuru Kenyatta
Chairman Johnson Sakaja
Secretary-General Onyango Oloo
Founder Lawrence Nginyo Kariuki
Slogan I Believe!
Founded 2000
Ideology Kenyan Nationalism
Conservatism
Political position Centre-right to Right-wing
National affiliation Jubilee Alliance
National Assembly
89 / 349
Senate
17 / 67
Website
www.tna.co.ke

The National Alliance (TNA) is a political party in Kenya. It attained its current identity when it was taken over by Uhuru Kenyatta and rebranded as the vehicle for his 2012 presidential campaign.[1]

History

The National Alliance was founded as the National Alliance Party of Kenya on July 3, 2000 when people from varying background decided to form an alliance of democratic forces to work for the social, economic and political unity and welfare of Kenyan communities. The leaders of the communities represented at the inaugural meeting subsequently approached Mr. Lawrence Nginyo Kariuki, a prominent businessman and renowned politician to be the founding chairman of the Alliance and Mr. Kariuki consented. The Alliance has the primary objective of bringing Kenyans together, with the recognition that being united, they stand a better chance of successfully tackling the political, social and economic challenges they face.

National Rainbow Coalition

In preparation for the 2002 elections, the Democratic Party of Kenya (DP) together with other 13 small political parties adopted the National Alliance Party of Kenya (then NAK), then registered as a political party by a central Kenya businessman Lawrence Nginyo Kariuki. Other members of the NAK were Kijana Wamalwa of Ford-Kenya, Charity Ngilu then of Social Democratic party among others. Few weeks to the 2002 general elections NAK formed a coalition with Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to form the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) umbrella coalition party. On 27 December 2002, the legislative elections, NARC won 56.1% of the popular vote and 125 out of 212 elected seats. NAK itself took 66 of these seats. At the presidential elections of the same day, NARC supported Mwai Kibaki, who won 62.2% of the vote and was elected the third president of Kenya. Led the fourth president to office, Mr.Uhuru Kenyatta.

2007 elections

On September 13, 2007 NAK joined Mwai Kibaki and other political parties in the formation of the Party of National Unity (PNU). PNU fared poorly in the parliamentary elections 2007 reaching only 43 seats against nearly 99 for its main rival, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM). Together with affiliated parties, however, it could command around 78 members of parliament. On February 28, 2008 through a mediation team headed by former UN General Secretary Kofi Annan, the PNU government reached a deal with the ODM to share power. ODM is headed by Raila Odinga. The power sharing deal was the first one of its kind in Africa.

Political Parties Act

The National Alliance party of Kenya was re-registered in the year 2008 under the new political parties act 2007 as an independent party from its previous mother PNU. It functioned for a while under the leadership of the former chairman Nginyo Kariuki. In April 2012 the Party also changed its initials from NAK to NAPK. the Party was rebranded in April 2012 and taken over by forces allied to Uhuru Kenyatta.[2] It immediately began making waves in Kenya's political scene winning the Kangema and Kajiado North by elections as well as several county council wards.[3] The outcome sparked a steady flow of defections from politicians across political parties, hoping to win various seats in Kenya's 2013 general elections.[4][5] In December Uhuru Kenyatta, TNA's presumed presidential candidate, William Ruto of the URP and several other prominent politicians signed a pre-election deal outlining how the parties would share seats in a coalition government.[6] The National Alliance won a majority of the seats in the elections and now heads unity government. The National Alliance banked on youth votes during the election campaign. Machel Waikenda led the media and communications department of the party during the 2013 elections.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Kenyan ICC suspect launches political party http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/05/20/242225/kenya-icc-suspect-launch-political-party/
  2. ↑ "New political party woos supporters - Politics". nation.co.ke. Retrieved 2012-06-17.
  3. ↑ Big win for Uhuru and Raila http://www.nation.co.ke/News/politics/Big+win+for+Uhuru+and+Raila/-/1064/1510364/-/i06g0j/-/index.html
  4. ↑ TNA edges old parties out of Mt Kenya region http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000067603&story_title=TNA-edges-old-parties-out-of-Mt-Kenya-region
  5. ↑ 100 Mudavadi Party Members Defect to TNA http://allafrica.com/stories/201210060581.html
  6. ↑ Uhuru announces Ruto coalition deal http://www.nation.co.ke/News/politics/Uhuru-announces-Ruto-coalition-deal-/-/1064/1630190/-/nju8j5/-/index.html
  7. ↑ "TNA to strategize for by-elections among other issues". Mwaniki Munhue. Standard Digital. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
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