Amani National Congress leader Musalia Mudavadi sent apologies for his absence – his step-mother's body was arriving for burial from the United States on the day – while the Wiper party's Kalonzo Musyoka was conveniently in South Sudan...

After merging Jubilee and ODM Kenyatta had planned to bring the leaders of the smaller parties – Musalia Mudavadi Kalonzo Musyoka Gideon Moi and Moses Wetangula – into a wider coalition for an Odinga presidency that would stop the Ruto juggernaut (AC Vol 62 No 21 Raila beats Ruto as the oligarchs' favourite & Vol 62 No 23 Cash takes on the kingpins)...

In an opinion poll released on 19 November by the TIFA market research agency in Nairobi Ruto was leading with 38% over the other three contenders: Raila Odinga (23%) Musalia Mudavadi (2%) Kalonzo Musyoka (1%)...

All of them have their presidential ambitions and reasons to distrust Odinga: Ford Kenya's Moses Wetangula Amani National Congress's Musalia Mudavadi and the Wiper party's Kalonzo Musyoka joined by Kenya African National Union chairman Gideon Moi...

Unravelling tentKenyatta had hoped that his 'big tent' politics would co-opt not just Odinga but also the two leaders of the main Luhya parties Musalia Mudavadi and Moses Wetangula Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka a Kamba and Gideon Moi a Kalenjin and leader of the Kenya African National Union in this new grand coalition...

The other possible contestants – Musalia Mudavadi and Kalonzo Musyoka – sometimes talk about fronting a third force possibly led by Gideon Moi who himself seems unsure...