OKA leaders agree on power sharing deal, give Raila ultimatum
Anthony Mwangi and Kirera Mwiti
Leaders allied to One Kenya Alliance (OKA) finalised their two day retreat in Naivasha yesterday with an agreement on a power sharing arrangement should they form the next government.
They also agreed to leave the window open for ODM leader Raila Odinga to join, as long as he would accept to support one of them for the presidency in 2022.
A meeting of the four OKA leaders; Musalia Mudavadi (ANC), Moses Wetang’ula (Ford Kenya), Kalonzo Musyoka (Wiper) and Gideon Moi (Kanu) with Raila last Sunday, seemed to have broken the ice between the two groups.
“It is now a done deal that Raila can join the alliance not as a presidential candidate but as a partner,” a source that attended the meeting told People Daily.
Before the Sunday meeting with Raila, OKA was sharply divided over the inclusion of the former Prime Minister in their coalition, with Mudavadi, Kalonzo and Wetang’ula totally opposed as Moi insisted that the former could not be ignored in Kenyan politics.
Today, the four OKA leaders and Raila are expected to meet President Uhuru Kenyatta in Mombasa.
Addressing a press conference yesterday at end of the two day meeting, the leaders maintained that the alliance would produce a presidential candidate in 2022, although there is a window for other parties to join.
As the “Great Rift Valley Declaration”, we hereby unequivocally state that One Kenya Alliance will field a presidential candidate in next year’s general elections. And the candidate is here,” read a statement issued after the retreat.
Sources within the alliance intimated to the People Daily that the meeting agreed on two power sharing arrangement options for use depending on the outcome of the judgment on the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI).
Should the Appeal court throw out the petition, OKA intends to create through Parliament two positions of Chief Cabinet Ministers for the two of their partners, who would have missed out on the positions of President and Deputy President.
Other party leaders who have joined the alliance would be allocated the positions of Speakers of National Assembly and Senate depending on their respective parties’ numerical strength.
The parties also agreed on how they would share Cabinet slots. The second option is based on the BBI coming into reality as a result of the court ruling.
“Indeed, we are also aware that the Court of Appeal is set to rule on the BBI this Friday.
As an alliance, we shall accept and respect the verdict of the courts. Irrespective of the outcome, we wish to restate that our resolve to be committed to seeing a united Kenya,” stated the alliance.
They also drew up a five point manifesto outlining their vision on economy, health, education, foreign relations and agriculture.
And even as OKA outlined their roadmap to the general election, another alliance was also in the offing.
Speaker of the National Assembly Justin Muturi; who has declared that he will contest the presidency, Makueni Governor Kivutha Kibwana and former UNTAD boss Mukhisa Kituyi signalled for yet another pact.
Speaking at Serena Hotel after a meeting, the trio said plans to unite ahead of 2022 were part of their lunch time meeting.
Kibwana appeared to play down the coalition talk claiming that they had converged to discuss on the upcoming Devolution Conference to be held in his county.
