It is official, after the old, historic leader of the former opposition and serial loser Raila Odinga now allied with outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta, and the 'hawkish' Vice-President William Ruto, Kenya has a third pretender to the country's highest seat ahead of the next national elections, to be held in August 2022.
Like Kenyatta, son of the first leader of independent Kenya, his surname is no stranger to national politics because he is another 'son of art', a descendant of the second president of the republic, Gideon Moi. His father Daniel Arap Moi, Kenyatta's former deputy, ruled from the departure of the father of the fatherland in 1978 until 2002.
Gideon, who is of Kalenjin ethnicity like the other pretender to the presidency, Ruto, has long since taken over the reins of his father's party, the Kenyan African National Union (KANU) and although he has joined the OKA alliance along with three other leading figures in Kenyan politics, Kalonzo Musyoka, Musalia Mudavadi and Moses Wetangula.
At the national assembly yesterday, Thursday 30 September, the over 3000 Kanu delegates unanimously voted for Moi's candidature for the 2022 general elections.
According to the party leaders, Moi is the right person who can not only get a good response of votes, but also engage other leaders who have similar visions to his politics.
At this point, one awaits the move of the other possible candidates, in what could be the first ever election in the country that does not see only two challengers as the big favourites, although polls currently show Vice President Ruto ahead of Raila Odinga, supported however by a growing faction of businessmen from the so-called 'Mount Kenya lobby' that represents the nation's productive and economic strength.