Moi's former deputy 'to end Kenya's dictatorship'

The political battle of a generation began in Kenya yesterday when the opposition fielded the veteran politician Mwai Kibaki to challenge Uhuru Kenyatta in the presidential election.

Mr Kibaki, 70, a former vice-president, represents the opposition's greatest chance in decades of toppling President Daniel arap Moi's ruling Kenya National African Union (Kanu) party. Mr Kibaki promised that, if elected, Kenya's "period of dictatorship" would end.

He vowed to revive the ailing economy and stamp out the endemic corruption that has flourished during the Moi era. "We must start from the top and the top is obviously the president," he said at the Hilton hotel in Nairobi. Outside, several thousand supporters surged around the entrance. The crowd, mostly men, chanted, cheered and at one point caused a glass lobby door to smash. "The government will pay for it," shouted one man, reflecting the swelling mood of defiance that is characterising the dying days of Mr Moi's 24-year presidency.

Traditionally, tribal rivalries and personal ambitions have hopelessly divided Kenya's opposition – divisions Mr Moi has manipulated to earn the sobriquet "the professor of politics".

However, through his blunt attempt to impose Mr Kenyatta, the son of the independence leader Jomo Kenyatta, as his successor, the magic touch appears to have deserted him.

Many Kenyans fear that, if elected, Mr Kenyatta would be beholden to the corrupt élite surrounding Mr Moi. And within the impregnable ranks of Kanu, the move has caused a massive split. Last week, several senior officials defected to the opposition to set up their own party, the Liberal Democratic Party.

Yesterday they joined with the mainstream opposition to form the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc). "This is the ultimate solution to the removal of Moi from power," said Michael Wamalwa, an aspiring vice-president, in a clear statement that Narc is bound more by a desire to thwart Mr Moi than by shared ideology. But if their pact can hold until the election, then Kenya could see its first change of government since independence in 1963.

Yesterday's speeches were imbued with a sense of history and peppered with classical references. The former Kanu secretary general, Raila Odinga, quoted Julius Caesar, while Mr Wamalwa paraphrased George Bernard Shaw. Mr Moi is expected to employ his considerable political wiles to try to break the alliance. Fears of the violence that has marred previous elections are also hanging over the poll.

Although Narc rhetoric is strong against corruption and mismanagement, some of its own members have chequered records. George Saitoti was finance minister at the time of the Goldenberg scandal, Kenya's biggest corruption scam that saw up to £640m disappear from government coffers. Another key alliance backer, the former Kanu official Joseph Kamotho, was a famous Moi sycophant until he fell out of favour this year.

Last week, a judicial report recommended that William Ole Ntimama, a Masai leader who allegedly incited the tribal clashes that marred the 1992 and 1997 elections, be investigated along with several other Kanu figures.

Mr Moi is expected to dissolve parliament this week and call a December election.