No deal reached between OKA, Moses Kuria as Kalonzo announces next step
On Sunday Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria revealed that One Kenya Alliance (OKA) principals approached him for a possible coalition.
Kuria said that, though he shares a lot of values with OKA, he was reluctant to join the alliance because of its possibility of going into a coalition with the Raila Odinga led-Azimio la Umoja movement. He said that he would only join OKA if it does get into a coalition with Azimio la Umoja.
"They (OKA principals) invited Chama Cha Kazi and me to join the One Kenya Alliance. Whereas we share many ideals between Chama Cha Kazi and OKA, we agreed to work together as long as OKA is not joining the Azimio Coalition which is incompatible with me and my Party. We will hold a follow-up meeting on Wednesday 2nd March to agree on the way forward," Kuria said.
Following his reservations, both the MP and OKA principals agreed to meet today, Wednesday, March 2 to see whether Kuria will eventually join OKA under his terms. But according to a statement released by Kalonzo, one of the OKA principals, no deal has been reached between the alliance and Kuria's Chama Cha Kazi's (CCK) party.
In a press conference, Kalonzo revealed that though OKA is committed to welcoming other political parties into its fold, as of today, Wednesday, the alliance still has only four parties; Wiper, UDP, KANU, and Narc Kenya under its umbrella.
The Wiper party leader said that it is only the four parties that will sign a coalition agreement next week once they (OKA) come up with a legal framework that is acceptable to all of them.
"We will continue to insist on structured dialogue amongst ourselves and with other like-minded coalitions that will be honest, open and transparent. We, therefore, wish to assure Kenyans that the OKA constituent parties - the Wiper Democratic Movement, KANU, NARC-K & UDP - are still interrogating the binding legal documents," Kalonzo said.
Earlier on, Kalonzo rebuked the Gatundu South MP's sentiments noting that he cannot join OKA with set conditions. The Wiper leader said that should Kuria opt to join them, then he should come in at free will.
"I cannot agree with Moses Kuria on that one. If he wants to come to OKA then he should do so without those conditions," Kalonzo maintained.
It is not, however, immediately clear whether Kuria failed to join OKA because the alliance insisted on working with Raila or because of other pending legal issues.
