The conspicuous absence of Kanu chairman Gideon Moi in Azimio activities is a matter of debate amongst Raila Odinga supporters.
Gideon is also not active in his own Kanu party politics where he is facing hostility from a faction led by his disgruntled secretary general Nick Salat.
Salat
Word has it that Gideon is planning to rebrand himself and does not want to be seen to be fighting president William Ruto, thus the silence.
The same is said of other Moi family members.
Raymond Moi, the former Rongai MP has also been missing in action.
Reports indicate the Moi family after backing Raila presidency has decided to concentrate on business.
The longstanding cold war between Gideon and Salat finally exploded in public after the party missed the coveted East Africa Legislative Assembly slots.
Moi
Drama started when Salat came out with guns blazing a day after Azimio released a list in which Kanu nominees were missing, questioning the motive behind the move by the chairman to withdraw his name.
Apparently, Gideon in a bid to save his face withdrew his candidature after getting intelligence reports that he was left out from the list.
Kanu had no slot according to the sharing formula adopted by the coalition led by Raila.
Gideon and Salat were banking on the goodwill of Raila to donate one slot to Kanu in the spirit of comradeship.
But when Salat learned that Gideon had chickenee out of the race, he accused him of running down the party.
In what is likely to escalate the relationship of the once two friends, Salat claimed that the chairman has personalised Kanu.
Salat has stimulated his network within and outside the party to take Gideon headon and eventually topple him from the helm.
He is said to be funded by Ruto strategists in an effort to root out Kanu from Rift Valley.
Ruto wants the party dead as dodo.
A bitter Salat has vowed that he will not allow his boss to kill the party.
Away from the escalating party wrangles, Gideon is also a no-show at Raila’s latest political activities as well as his Baringo backyard where he suffered an embarrassing defeat in the hands of Ruto.
He was defeated by UDA’s William Cheptumo in the Baringo senatorial race despite being a principal in the Azimio coalition and being the son of former president Daniel Moi.
Late Daniel Moi
In a well-crafted script to completely vanquish the Moi family, Ruto also successfully engineered the defeat of Raymond.
The twin defeats marked the end of an era for the family of former president Moi, a man who is feeling disturbed in his grave by his own political student.
To Ruto, eliminating Gideon was part of his mission to dismantle the so-called dynasties formed by the late Moi, Jomo Kenyatta and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga families that had perpetuated their control of the country’s political space since independence.
Jaramogi Oginga
As things stand, Gideon is a man on his own.
After supporting Uhuru Kenyatta’s presidential bid in 2013 and 2017, Gideon had hoped to be the next president.
He imagined that this could only happen through teaming up with Raila who was Uhuru’s choice, as he waited for his turn.
He became a key player in Raila’s presidential bid and was accredited with shepherding Kalonzo Musyoka into joining Azimio after Musalia Mudavadi and Moses Wetang’ula left OKA in a huff to join Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza wing.
Musyoka
But with the growing hostility within Kanu, Uhuru drifting towards Ruto and Raila appearing to be down and out, pundits say that the former Baringo senator is completely deflated and has a lot of homework to do should he want to be politically significant ahead of 2027 elections
