Kanu chairman Gideon Moi has been warned to avoid ODM leader Raila Odinga’s “scheme to divide the Kalenjin community”.
Kanu Nakuru chairman Wilson Leitich rejected Raila’s plot to support Moi for the presidency as reported by the Star last Friday.
He said Raila’s aim is to divide the Kalenjin community.
“We are aware of all of Raila’s tactics. He intends to divide Kalenjins for his gain, but we want Gideon to keep off the toothless leader,” Leitich said.
He led a group of elders at a press conference in a Molo hotel on Sunday.
Leitich said Raila has hit the wall in his political career and has nothing to offer to the community.
“We unanimously backed him in 2007 and he used the chance in the grand coalition government to evict the Kalenjin community from Mau Forest. So, let him keep off our community,” he said.
Kanu Kuresoi North secretary John Maritim said the party had agreed to support the Jubilee government and that stand has not changed.
Leitich, a Kanu official since the regime of President Daniel Moi, said if Gideon wished to be respected, then he should respect Deputy President William Ruto, as he remains the community’s “anointed leader”.
“We as Kanu leaders will never support Raila. We believe Gideon’s time is coming, but now we want him to respect Ruto so that when the DP’s time ends he succeeds him,” he said.
The elders termed Kanu secretary general Nick Salat’s remarks that Kanu is willing to work with any party, including Cord, as premature personal opinion.
“The party leadership has not agreed on any such direction. We wonder why Salat is always quick to discharge his ideas and term them party decisions,” Maritim said.
He said Salat is misusing the party for his own gain, adding that he has overstayed in the p
Raila may say ‘Gideon Tosha’
Last Friday, the Star reported that Cord strategists are busy working on a way to kick Jubilee out of power in the general election. One is Raila Odinga running with Kalonzo Musyoka as his deputy. But sources said the strategists are mulling over the possibility of the two endorsing Kanu chairman Gideon Moi for President and offering him a running mate from Western. “This is aimed at locking Uhuru out of the vote-rich Rift Valley,” a source said. The strategists believe the “simplest way to remove Uhuru from power is to deny him the massive Kalenjin vote”.