Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka’s presidential quest has received a boost after former Mwingi North MP John Munuve, declared that he will be Kalonzo’s foremost campaigner.
In recent weeks and at various public gatherings in Mwingi North, Munuve said he was backing Kalonzo’s presidency in 2022.
He even disclosed that he had a deal with Kalonzo to champion his campaigns in Mwingi North.
Munuve who has for years been a fierce critic of Kalonzo when the latter was the MP for Kitui North (now Mwingi North), joined Kalonzo’s Wiper party and rode on both Kalonzo and Wiper popularity to succeed Kalonzo as MP in 2013.
However, the relationship between Munuve and Kalonzo ended when Munuve clinched the MP seat, gravitating towards the Jubilee Party that had won the presidency.
In 2017 when Munuve attempted to reclaim his seat on a Jubilee ticket, he lost to Wiper’s Paul Musyimi Nzengu with a wide margin.
It is not clear whether Munuve, who is keen to wrestle back the Mwingi North seat, wants to use Kalonzo's name who enjoys near-fanatical following in his former Mwingi North constituency to recapture his former parliamentary seat or he is genuinely supporting Kalonzo.
Munuve as a University of Nairobi student in the 1980s went into exile in Zimbabwe during the Moi era clampdown on political dissent among university students where he remained for over a decade.
He has variously blamed his tribulation then on Kalonzo who was a newly elected MP and a buddy of then President Daniel Moi.
Speaking on phone on Monday, Munuve clarified that although he was supporting Kalonzo’s presidential candidature, he had not defected from Jubilee to Wiper.
“I am supporting Kalonzo’s presidential quest because he is the best among all the other candidates seeking the presidency. I am also behind Kalonzo because President Uhuru Kenyatta will not seek re-election,” Munuve said.
“I am not that naive not to support the best presidential candidate we have and that is Stephen Kalonzo. I have not decamped from Jubilee,” he said.
Munuve said it was too early to jump ship and was supporting Kalonzo because his Jubilee party had a coalition arrangement with Wiper.
“There is a lot of political realignment and coalitions in making, and all this is work in progress,” he said.
Munuve was appointed the chairperson of Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority by President Kenyatta after losing the Mwingi North seat in 2017 said.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
