The oldest party in Kenya, KANU will field a presidential candidate during the August general elections.

In an advert that appeared on the dailies on Monday, KANU said it will field candidates for all six elective posts in the August polls including that of the president.

“We invite eligible Kenyans, who subscribe to the ideals, vision, mission, objectives and core values of the party to present their expression of interests in confidence to the KANU National Election Board,” the advert written by KANU’s Election Board Chairman Eddie Kivuvani read in part.

The advert has thrown a spanner in the works since it was widely expected that the independence party would either back President Uhuru Kenyatta’s presidential bid or the candidate the opposition party would pick from either the Cord coalition or the recent National Super Alliance (NASA).

A National Executive Council (NEC) meeting at the party’s headquarters in Nairobi gave the KANU Chairman, Gideon Moi the mandate to decide in two weeks whether the party will field a presidential candidate in the August 8 polls.

NASA links

The NEC meeting came soon after the party’s Secretary General Nick Salat at a public function attended by chief opposition leaders said that KANU was firmly in NASA.

However, senior KANU leaders led by Senators John Lonyangapuo and Zipporah Kittony distanced the party from the remarks and termed Salat’s sentiments as his own and not the stand of the party.

Last week, the president’s mother Mama Ngina Kenyatta made a surprise to former president Daniel Arap Moi at his Kabarak home.

The visit sent political tongues wagging with many speculating that the meeting was strategically meant to ensure their sons, President Kenyatta and Gideon Moi work together ahead of the August polls.

Gideon Moi has been at loggerheads with Deputy President William Ruto as they tussle over political supremacy in Rift Valley.

Part of the deal to ensure President Kenyatta and Moi work together was that the Jubilee Party should not front a Senatorial candidate in Baringo county even though DP Ruto is already keen on having someone from his party take over that particular seat.