Atwoli to Mudavadi: Befriending Ruto is not key to presidency
COTU Secretary General Francis Atwoli has criticised the newfound working relationship between ANC's Musalia Mudavadi and UDA's William Ruto.
In a tweet, Atwoli said teaming up with the Deputy President will not propel Mudavadi to the presidency.
"And who told him he's going to be President? Befriending Ruto is not the key to presidency," Atwoli said.
He said the two Luhya leaders, Musalia and Moses Wetangula (Ford Kenya), have betrayed their community by working with the deputy president.
"He has ashamed the Luhyas by allowing Ruto to fund his NDC. As I said earlier, ANC and FORD-K are political commercial kiosks for Mudavadi and Wetangula. I will respond fully tomorrow (Monday)," he added.
In his speech, Mudavadi criticised the labour union in the country for not standing up for Kenyan workers.
In his response, Atwoli said it is Mudavadi who contributed to 'impoverishing' workers by allowing employers to execute redundancy without consulting employees.
"Mudavadi, in 1994 while minister for finance, sneaked in the redundancy clause into the Finance Bill of 1994, as suggested by the World Bank, which allowed employers to declare redundancy without consulting workers.
"So how will he empower workers?" Atwoli posed.
Atwoli is a staunch supporter of Raila Odinga and Azimio la Umoja Movement and has been calling on Mudavadi and Wetangula to support the ODM leader.
However, speaking during the National Delegates Convention (NDC) Mudavadi said that Raila Odinga is not a leader who can be trusted.
Mudavadi said he has a special place for trust issues in his heart and that a political leader must be as good as his or her words.
"If your word cannot be your bond, then you are not good even for an ashpit. Leaders must be the salt of the nation. If they have lost trust or are untrustworthy then they have lost all the flavour of the salt of leadership," Mudavadi said.
The former vice-president further revealed that he lost trust with Raila a long time ago and he has on several occasions given him time to redeem himself but he has failed.
He said that ANC will only be seeking partnerships with political parties that are of goodwill and good intent as it moves towards the next polls. He, however, insisted that the Raila-led Azimio la Umoja will not be one of those people he is seeking to work with.
"We may not know who is going with us or who will be our comrades at arms in this mission, but we know who they will not be.
"They will not be those who cannot be trusted. Those whom you trust at your own risk.
"We have troubles with untrustworthy persons before and when we have given them another chance to redeem themselves, they have failed miserably by returning to their old mischiefs," he added.
