Kenyan President Dissolves Parliament

President Daniel arap Moi, one of Africa's last surviving Big Men, formally dissolved parliament yesterday for a general election which will end his 24-year rule over Kenya.

The announcement has been expected since the opposition parties united with dissidents from Mr Moi's Kenya African National Union party to strip him of his parliamentary majority. The National Rainbow Coalition tabled a motion of no-confidence which he was not expected to survive.

Constitutionally barred from standing at the election, Mr Moi had nominated Uhuru Kenyatta, a 41-year-old political novice and son of Kenya's founding father and Mr Moi's predecessor, Jomo Kenyatta, to stand for Kanu.

Mr Kenyatta has vowed to follow the outgoing president's advice.

On Thursday a further nine Kanu MPs defected to the opposition coalition, including two members of Mr Moi's family. One of the two, Kiptum Choge, gave as his reason the "over-concentration of wealth in the hands of an individual".

A recent report by the Global Organisation of Parliamentarians Against Corruption identified about £1.5bn - the equivalent of Kenya's annual budget - in public money which had been squirrelled into private bank accounts abroad in the past few years.

"If the coalition holds, Uhuru has no chance," John Githongo, country director of Transparency International, the anti-corruption watchdog, said.

"For the first time Moi has blundered and he knows it. He thought he could force Uhuru on his party, and he has failed."

Mr Moi is believed to have selected Mr Kenyatta as the man most likely to safeguard his vast wealth. This is no more than Mr Moi did for the Kenyatta family, by refusing to retrieve the millions it accrued during the first president's rule.

Uhuru Kenyatta was called after his father's rallying cry, the Swahili for "freedom", but he showed little interest in politics before Mr Moi appointed him an MP, and then a minister, last year.

The decision has already cost Mr Moi money. To escape the no-confidence vote, he was forced to dissolve parliament before he could push through a presidential retirement package including a fleet of seven cars, a staff of 34, a 12-bedroom house and a state funeral.

"In the end, he wouldn't have been too bothered about the retirement plan: it's not as if he really needs it," a western diplomat said yesterday.

"Though no doubt he would have liked the security detail."