Cabinet minister Martha Karua is expected to strengthen her bid for the presidency in 2012 at a Narc Kenya retreat in Naivasha on Friday.

In an interview with the Nation, the Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs minister appealed to Kenyans to see her as an individual and not as a Kikuyu.

In what points to a major split between PNU and its partners, Ms Karua said the party which President Kibaki used for the second bid in office was only established for the purpose of contesting last year's polls. "PNU is an umbrella body. It is not my party and it has never been," Ms Karua said, and added that PNU affiliates would continue to work together.

Iron Lady

Ms Karua, labelled the Iron Lady of Kenyan politics, said it was wrong to say that the presidency should rotate among certain communities "because a community never ascends to power. It is an individual."

The minister said if it was all about communities then Baringo, where former president Moi comes from, would not be one of the poorest districts in the country. She also said the majority of squatters were in Gatundu, first president Jomo Kenyatta's home.

Ms Karua said only "political" tribes around former presidents Kenyatta and Moi benefited from jobs and not whole communities.

Ms Karua, who took over as Narc-K chairperson from Mr Raphael Tuju last month, said she was not the automatic Narc-K candidate for 2012 and would have to fight it out with other aspirants.

"I will pursue my presidential ambitions relentlessly and successfully," she said, throwing the gauntlet to Kanu chairman Uhuru Kenyatta and Narc-K colleague George Saitoti, who are expected to contest the presidency in 2012. Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, whose ODM-K is a PNU coalition partner, is also eyeing the top job.

Ford Kenya, a PNU affiliate, has also announced that it will go it alone.

Democratic right

Ms Karua said Friday's retreat is aimed at re-organising Narc-K. She said the party would hold its national elections later in the year.

Asked if she was comfortable with declaring her interest in the top job when President Kibaki was still in office, Ms Karua said it was her democratic right to do so, noting that the Head of State was serving his last term and was not a factor in terms of influence.

On the National Dialogue and Reconciliation Committee, Ms Karua said outstanding issues of Agenda 4, which entails finding lasting solutions to the country's problems, would be wrapped up soon.

On rumours that the grand coalition would collapse immediately after the completion of Agenda 4 and the enactment of a new constitution, Ms Karua said "if it splits after the completion of Agenda 4, the coalition will have delivered."

She said the success of the coalition would not be determined by the period it stays but by its achievements.