Trouble is brewing in the Bungoma NASA camp over which party should have the final say - Senator Moses Wetang'ula's Ford Kenya or Raila Odinga's ODM.
Wetang'ula, Raila, Kalonzo Musyoka (Wiper), Musalia Mudavadi (ANC) and Isaac Rutto (CCM) joined forces to form the National Super Alliance. Raila and Kalonzo will take on President Uhuru Kenyatta and DP William Ruto in the general election on August 8.
Wetang'ula's party has insisted the county is purely its zone and that orange party candidates should be locked out. But ODM does not seem to want to cede.
Sources say the Senator has been asking Raila,
to prevail upon ODM candidates in Bungoma to step down for those under his party, but that he has been unsuccessful.
Wafula Wamunyinyi, who is Kanduyi MP and the Ford Kenya's Bungoma chairman, said they will not allow ODM candidates to campaign there.
"We made sacrifices as a party and our leader stepped down for Raila's presidential bid. What is so difficult in them sacrificing Bungoma seats for us?" he asked in an address to the press in Bungoma town on Thursday night.
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Wamunyinyi said the party will hold a major rally after Wetang'ula presents his papers to the IEBC on his bid for re-election.
"We are going to make a major statement...ODM aspirants should step down," he said, adding they will declare the county a Ford Kenya zone.
Earlier in May, Ford Kenya Youth League secretary Wafula Wakoli accused Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya of undermining NASA summit recommendations.
It was resolved that Ford Kenya and ANC control Western Kenya after ODM leader Raila Odinga was unveiled as the NASA flagbearer.
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The MP said the coalition's affiliate parties are
likely to lose to Jubilee should all of them field candidates in Bungoma.
"Let's face the reality that unless we create order, we will lose many seats to Jubilee," he said.
But in a quick rejoinder, ODM Bungoma county secretary Majimbo Okumu laughed off Wamunyinyi's assertions saying they were far-fetched.
"This man, together with his party leader, must be out of their minds. We have invested as candidates...how do we step down?" Majimbo asked.
He said Ford Kenya is in panic mode and should let ODM aspirants vie if their party is as popular as they say.
"If the party is popular in Bungoma, why panic? They know pretty well that they have been riding on our backs," he said.
Majimbo declared that if Ford Kenya carries on with its "underground machination" they will have no option but to fight them as enemies.
"We are going to take Jubilee as our competitors but Ford Kenya as our enemies."
