In the first instalment of the Time of Change series, the politics surrounding the Moi Succession, Special Projects Editor MACHARIA GAITHO looks at the Mungiki movement. Where did they come from and what are they up to?
In the run-up to the pivotal General Election of next year, President Moi is consumed with how to manage the transition as he prepares for life in retirement.
He has pulled a major coup by engineering the impending merger of Kanu and Mr Raila Odinga's National Development Party.
He is increasingly talking about passing the baton to a younger generation of leaders in Kanu.
But Central Province remains a headache. Democratic Party chairman Mwai Kibaki is poised to provide the biggest challenge to the Kanu presidential nominee, and has been working to ensure that he dominates the large Central Kenya vote.
That is a vote that Kanu is desperate to capture, buy or divide. The dismal failure in 1997 of the Central Province Development Support Group - the so-called Kikuyu Elite - fronted by Kanu Secretary-General Joseph Kamotho calls for new ways to tackle the problem.
Dividing the vote
Mr Uhuru Kenyatta, the son of Kenya's founding President, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, has been roped in to play a central role as the youthful face of a new Kikuyu leadership generation. But he did not perform too greatly either in in 1997 political debut. His presence will not be enough to substantially divide, let alone capture, the Kikuyu vote.
The other option is divide the Central Province Opposition vote. Kanu right now would give anything to have Mr Kenneth Matiba step back into the fray. Standing instructions have been issued to the Registrar of Societies that any application by Mr Matiba's unregistered Saba Saba Asili be approved without delay.
But Mr Matiba himself has been sending contradictory signals. His supporters have been urging him to have another go at the presidency, and recently indicated that he would indeed offer himself once his party was registered. Then came the rider that he would not seek registration from a Government he claims is illegitimate.
Changed police approach
In the meantime, Mungiki stepped into the breach. Its members, recognisable by their dreadlocks, regularly make the news for constant confrontation with the police. Sometimes, it is the police violently breaking up their political-religious meetings.
At other times it is Mungiki followers taking the battle to the police stations in bids to free arrested colleagues.
What is clear is that the authorities have viewed Mungiki as a serious security threat.
But, in the past few weeks, a sea of change has been observed. Mungiki has held two well-attended rallies, with none of the regular violent police interventions.
Speculation was bound to rise to fever pitch.
Why have the police changed their approach towards Mungiki? Could it be related to the new political message being delivered?
Is Mungiki being used to eat into the appeal of the mainstream opposition in Central Province? Is it by mere coincidence that Mungiki leaders are echoing President Moi's new-found disposition to the emergence of youthful leaders?