Anxiety as Nasa leaders jostle to create alliances
Eric Wainaina and Rawlings Otieno
A meeting of the National Super Alliance (Nasa) principals in Nairobi yesterday exposed heightening anxiety as key players under the BBI umbrella jostle to create alliances and realign themselves ahead of next year’s elections.
Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka, Amani National Congress chief Musalia Mudavadi and Moses Wetangula (Ford Kenya) held talks which sources said centred on their next move following revelations that ODM leader Raila Odinga was negotiating an alliance with President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party.
At the end of the meeting at Nairobi’s Sankara Hotel, Mudavadi declared that Nasa partner parties are now either working independently or warming up to other formations.
“We are open to an honest coalition with people whom we share same objectives for a better and prosperous Kenya.
That is why we have opened OKA conversation for all Kenyans,” Mudavadi stated.
OKA stands for One Kenya Alliance that brings together the three leaders and Kanu chairman Gideon Moi.
“As ANC, we hold the NASA dream dearly for its promise to Kenyans. Nasa may be dead, but ANC will still advance the promise.
We are busy recruiting members to strengthen ANC and bring everyone on board,” Mudavadi told People Daily at the end of the meeting.
The three met as reports indicated that confusion had gripped the group that identifies itself with the President over the nascent Jubilee-ODM merger plan.
At the centre of the anxiety is a perception by leaders coalescing under the One Kenya Alliance and those allied to Raila that Uhuru could back their man to succeed him.
The group, which supports the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI, a product of the Handshake between the President and the ODM leader, comprises Raila, Mudavadi, Kalonzo, Wetangula and Moi.
The anxieties revolve around the fear that a Jubilee-ODM merger, which is being projected as the culmination of the Handshake could favour Raila’s presidential dream having been one of its main architects.
Sources told People Daily yesterday that Gideon is hoping to get automatic support from the President as reciprocation for his father’s support for Uhuru’s 2002 State House bid.
“The war is intense but it’s still beneath the surface. Camps have emerged with their preferred presidential candidates, all eyeing Uhuru’s endorsement.
But the emerging alliance, which appears to favour Raila, has disoriented some of the key figures in the BBI team, who were sure that they could be supported.
They had gone to the extent of crafting their own alliances,” the highly placed source said.
Senator Moi, Kalonzo, Mudavadi and Wetangula, who have been coalescing around OKA, according to the sources, had agreed to back one of their own for the presidency if they secured Uhuru’s support.
BBI appeal case
In their plan, which is pegged on the hopes that the Court of Appeal would overturn the ruling that declared BBI unconstitutional, one of the two partners would be the running mate with another coming in as prime minister.
“Gideon has, in an inexplicable level of confidence, continuously told his confidants that he will be on the ballot and that Uhuru will support him.
This gave the OKA team the impetus to engage in heightened political activities,” a Kanu source said yesterday.
Yesterday, Mudavadi said that though they have been holding meetings, nothing had been settled on so far because “talks will still continue and more alliances will emerge. There will be emerging political formations.
We have not seen an end to political formations and we will see people and parties coming together.
Only the formations that will be crystallised will be registered with the Registrar of Political Parties. So far none has been registered, it’s all speculation,” Mudavadi said.
After yesterday’s meeting, Mudavadi, Kalonzo and Wetangula promised to issue a statement on the future of the Nasa alliance in coming days.
On the other hand, Kitui Senator Enock Wambua, an ally of Kalonzo, disclosed that though they would be happy to get the support, including that of the President, they are not ready to play second fiddle to anyone.
“Our support for the President should not be misconstrued to mean that we shall rubber-stamp any candidate proposed for us. No way. We are in this race till the end,” Wambua stated.
Kanu secretary general Nick Salat believes in the OKA movement, and that Moi remains their preferred presidential candidate, but does not rule out possibilities of pre or post-election deals with like-minded partners. He downplayed the ongoing talks between ODM and Jubilee.
“We are going nowhere, absolutely (leaving OKA). When you see these meetings with Raila or any other person, it is just because we support the same cause.
We are going for the presidency with Gideon as our man from Kanu but in all elections, there are always pre-election and post-election agreements where give and take happens and we can only cross that bridge when we get there,” Salat said.
While OKA camp has been working for an Uhuru endorsement, the pro-Raila camp has been crafting a line-up that will rope in Kalonzo as his running mate, one-time presidential candidate Peter Kenneth or Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya as prime minister while Moi and Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho could take deputy prime minister positions.
The camp has also been considering Mudavadi for a high profile post, but the pro-Raila team, among them Joho, had left the ANC chief out with claims that he was scheming to join Deputy President William Ruto’s camp, claims which Mudavadi yesterday termed as “speculation” and “can’t stoop too low to respond to them”.
“Currently, we are even aware that some of them are negotiating with UDA, but as ODM we are not complaining,” said Joho in response to Mudavadi and Kalonzo’s remarks dismissing the Jubilee-ODM coalition plan.
Preferred candidate
Other influential members of the Uhuru-Raila axis include Jubilee Party vice chairman David Murathe, Imenti North MP Maoka Maore, Maina Kamanda (Nominated MP) and Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu) Secretary-General Francis Atwoli, who have openly been voicing their support for the Orange leader’s candidature.
“If you have been keenly following the unfolding political events, then you already know our preferred candidate. It is an open secret,” said Murathe yesterday.
The inclusion of Kenneth, who has been touted as Uhuru’s possible heir apparent in Mt Kenya politics, and Munya, in the Raila corner, is reported to have rattled some governors from Mt Kenya region who have been crafting a parallel line.
The quest to have a strong Raila candidacy, according to sources, led to the withdrawal of Joho and Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya’s presidential bid.
Joho recently declared that he would not wish to be the one who undermines Raila’s mission “when he has secured the support of Uhuru”, and vowed to take part in “serious Handshake action”.
Jubilee Secretary Raphael Tuju, who is a member of the steering committee on the coalition talks, has indicated that they were working on a pre-election alliance that would see them field one presidential candidate in 2022.
Sources said the camp was mulling replacing Kalonzo with the Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua while Mudavadi’s slot could be taken up by Oparanya.
