Joint nominations are tantamount to party dissolution, Wiper secretary general Hassan Omar said yesterday.
Cord leader Raila Odinga and others in the coalition have been calling for joint nominations in major towns to ensure they clinch many elective positions.
The major parties in Cord are Wiper, ODM and Ford Kenya.
Omar said, “At Wiper, we are very clear that we will dissolve nothing. The only time we shall go into serious negotiations for a united party is after the 2017 elections.”
He said Wiper’s National Executive Committee agreed that the only post where they will have a joint nomination is that of the presidential flagbearer. “Wiper shall fill candidates in all other remaining posts including, governor, senator, MP, woman representative and MCA,” Omar said.
He spoke at the Serena Hotel, Mombasa.
Read:
Omar said they have also requested that the Cord joint National Executive Committees suspends a retreat scheduled for next Monday until Wiper finishes its nationwide activities. “As long as we have similarities with other parties in the coalition, Wiper is distinct. We have asked the Cord joint committee to allow us to finish our nationwide programmes, before they call for that retreat of the three parties’ NEC,” he said.
Among the issues to be discussed during the retreat is a proposal by Ford Kenya that zoning be done to restrict parties like ODM from fielding its candidates in Western Kenya.
Omar said Wiper will traverse the country to popularise their flagbearer Kalonzo Musyoka.
On Wednesday, Kalonzo was in Tana River and he will be going to Mombasa tomorrow. He will then head to Kisii county for a series of rallies.
“As a party, we have also decided that the Cord presidential flagbearer must be named within a specific period of time as we head to the general election,” he said.
He said this will allow them to resolve any issues before the polls.
“Jubilee has already identified its flagbearer. In Cord, we should also name our flagbearer in order to start campaigning before it’s too late,” he said.