3 leave Narc-K for GNU

http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=2&newsid=128075

3 leave Narc-K for GNU Story by MACHARIA MWANGI Publication Date: 7/27/2008

An assistant minister and two former legislators have deserted Narc-Kenya for the newly formed Grand National Union.
Energy Assistant Minister Mwangi Kiunjuri and former MPs Joshua Toro and Nderitu Gachagua said GNU will soon embark on a vigorous campaign to popularise the new party.
“We will be targeting the youth who are the majority of voters once we hit the campaign trail,” said Mr Gachagua, following the party’s two-day retreat in Naivasha to strategise on how to popularise it.
Party of the future
He added that GNU was firmly in the Party of National Unity as a corporate member. He also denied press reports that the PNU unity meeting resolved to dissolve affiliate parties.
Mr Gachagua termed the campaigns for the 2012 presidential election by some politicians as premature. He said the coalition government had more pressing issues to deal with like the plight of the internally displaced persons, and should instead focus on those. He asked leaders to concentrate on improving the lives of Kenyans.
Mr Kiunjuri, on his part, said that GNU had less than five months to comply with the Political Parties Act or risk being disbanded. He said the newly formed party was the party of the future, which was why they were targeting Kenyans below the age of 35, and they make up the majority.
He said the party decided this section of the population would be their target because the youth still lacked an appropriate political party they could comfortably identify with.
Provide leadership
“At the moment we don’t have the so-called political heavy weights but this is certainly the party of the future,” Mr Kiunjuri said.
The party constitution, Mr Kiunjuri said, allowed the youth to provide leadership at the national level. Addressing the issue of the party’s presidential candidate, Mr Kiunjuri said it was not on GNU’s priority list.
“We shall be consulting with party members from time to time regarding the issue of the presidency,” he said.
He added that the party would open offices in Nairobi before being officially launched.