If ever Kenya's opposition parties needed to present a united front, it is now. But just as they have succeeded in pressing the government of President Daniel arap-Moi to accept wide-ranging legal and constitutional reforms, things have started to fall apart.
With elections due before the end of the year, the outlook for those trying to oust the ruling Kanu Party is as bleak as ever. The opposition parties cannot agree on whether they should contest the forthcoming poll. Some politicians believe the reforms are enough to guarantee free and fair elections. Others regard them as a whitewash.
The legal reforms - among them the repeal of colonial-era prohibitions on freedom of assembly and speech - are expected to become law within coming weeks.
Constitutional reforms, including provisions to curtail the executive powers of the president, will be handled after the election. The opposition's problem is not so much a question of disagreement between parties, but one of disagreement within parties.
Nowhere is this more apparent than within the two Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (Ford) parties (originally there was only one but it split in the run-up to the first multi-party election in 1992).
Both the breakaway Ford-Asili (meaning "original" Ford) and Ford-Kenya are internally divided over what strategy to employ. Mr Kenneth Matiba, the wealthy chairman of Ford-A, has declared he will not participate in elections. He urged fellow MPs and members of the public to burn their voter registration cards at the weekend (few, it seems, followed his lead). "We shall make this country ungovernable in order to achieve the resignation of President Moi," he has warned.
But others in his party, among them the secretary-general, Mr Martin Shikuku, are satisfied with the reforms deal and say they will stand in the elections.
Ford-K's British-educated chairman, Mr Michael Wamalwa, believes the reforms package is acceptable. The elections, he said, will be "more free and more fair" than in 1992. But, having suffered the defection of the veteran opposition MP, Mr Raila Odinga, earlier this year, Mr Wamalwa now finds himself facing further dissent within Ford-K ranks.
"We appear to have a Tony Benn situation in the party at the moment," he said, in reference to his first deputy, Mr James Orengo, who has taken up the call for an election boycott. "But we tolerate different views and we're not rushing to expel anyone."
The former vice-president and Democratic Party leader, Mr Mwai Kibaki, has declared his intention to participate in elections. "I urge Kenyans not to burn their voter cards," he has said. "Without voting you'll never achieve what we want to achieve."
Many believe that the government's unexpected endorsement of reforms was a well-calculated ploy to take the wind out of the opposition's sails and leave them politically becalmed.
The radical opposition MP, Mr Paul Muite, concedes that some of his colleagues were caught wrong-footed by the readiness of the government to embrace the reforms package. "In the short term, Moi and Kanu have pulled off a major PR coup," he said. "Even the gullible international community has swallowed what Kanu has offered this country. But Kenyans and the international community will see before long that nothing much has changed."
For a while it looked as if the National Convention Executive Council (NCEC) - a lobby of lawyers, church leaders and human rights activists created to lead the reform campaign - might succeed in uniting the opposition. But no sooner had reforms been announced than the old divisions appeared, larger than ever, and erstwhile supporters started to drift away.
The NCEC denounces the proposed reforms and promises mass action in coming months. But poor turnouts at its rallies say little for the ability of the hardline opposition to disrupt the elections.
United behind one charismatic and forceful leader, the opposition parties could give the Moi regime a good run for its money. But divided and squabbling, they are unlikely to pose much of a threat to the wily old President.