The Party of National Unity was hastily assembled in 2007 as the electoral vehicle for President Mwai Kibaki's re-election campaign, after the fracturing of the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) that had brought him to power in 2002. PNU was less a cohesive political party than a loose coalition of over a dozen parties and political factions united primarily by support for Kibaki's continued presidency and opposition to Raila Odinga's candidacy under the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM). The coalition drew together politicians from the Kikuyu, Meru People, Embu, and segments of the Kamba and Luhya communities, along with remnants of the old KANU establishment.
The 2005 constitutional referendum had shattered the NARC coalition, with Raila Odinga leading the successful "orange" campaign against the government's draft constitution. Kibaki's allies, who had supported the "banana" symbol, found themselves politically weakened and searched for a new organizational framework ahead of the 2007 general Elections. PNU was registered as a party under the leadership of figures including George Saitoti, Kiraitu Murungi, and John Michuki, but its internal coherence was always questionable. Several constituent parties - including KANU, Ford-Kenya, and Safina - maintained separate identities and organizational structures while formally supporting Kibaki.
The disputed December 2007 presidential election plunged Kenya into the 2007-2008 Post Election Violence, the worst political crisis in the nation's history. The Electoral Commission of Kenya's declaration of Kibaki as winner, despite widespread evidence of vote tallying irregularities, triggered violence that killed over 1,100 people and displaced 600,000. The crisis was resolved through the Kofi Annan-mediated Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation process, which produced the National Accord and Reconciliation Act of February 2008. This agreement created a Grand Coalition government in which Kibaki remained president while Raila Odinga became prime minister, with cabinet positions shared between PNU and ODM.
The Grand Coalition period (2008-2013) was marked by both significant reform and persistent political tension. PNU and ODM cooperated to deliver the Kenya Constitution 2010, which was overwhelmingly approved by referendum, but competed intensely over appointments, policy, and positioning for the next election. The constitutional reform process, along with the establishment of the ICC Cases Kenya against prominent politicians from both sides, restructured Kenya's political landscape. The PNU-ODM rivalry drove the creation of new electoral coalitions as the 2013 election approached.
PNU effectively dissolved as a political force ahead of the 2013 election. Kibaki was constitutionally barred from seeking a third term, and his allies scattered to different coalitions. The Uhuru Kenyatta Presidency was built on the new Jubilee Alliance, which drew from some PNU constituencies but was fundamentally structured around the Kikuyu-Kalenjin Alliance with William Ruto. PNU's brief existence - barely six years as a functioning entity - illustrated the fragility of personality-driven coalition politics in Kenya, where parties serve as temporary vehicles for electoral competition rather than enduring institutions with programmatic identities. The push for stronger political party regulation under the Kenya Constitution 2010 and the Political Parties Act of 2011 was partly a response to the PNU experience of hollow coalition politics.
See Also
- Mwai Kibaki
- Elections
- 2007-2008 Post Election Violence
- Orange Democratic Movement (ODM)
- Kenya Constitution 2010
- KANU
- Multiparty Politics
Sources
- Cheeseman, Nic. "The Kenyan Elections of 2007: An Introduction." Journal of Eastern African Studies 2, no. 2 (2008): 166-184.
- Mueller, Susanne D. "The Political Economy of Kenya's Crisis." Journal of Eastern African Studies 2, no. 2 (2008): 185-210.
- Kanyinga, Karuti. "Governance Institutions and Inequality in Kenya." In Society for International Development, Readings on Inequality in Kenya: Sectoral Dynamics and Perspectives. Nairobi: SID, 2006.
- Independent Review Commission (Kriegler Commission). Report of the Independent Review Commission on the General Elections Held in Kenya on 27 December 2007. Nairobi: Government Printer, 2008.