ODM hijacked NASA's swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday,
Kivutha Kibwana has claimed, and demanded respect from the party.
Raila Odinga, who was inaugurated as
the people's president, is the leader of the orange party. He was not with his co-principals during the ceremony and there
are now claims of a rift but the leaders say they are united.
Details:
Speaking on Musyi FM on Thursday, Kibwana gave his own version of events, saying the four principals agreed to meet that morning before proceeding to the Nairobi park.
The others are Wiper's Kalonzo Musyoka who was to be swrong-in as the people's DP,
Musalia Mudavadi (Amani National Congress) and Bungoma senator Moses Wetang'ula (Ford Kenya).
Kibwana, who is Makueni governor and
Wiper chairman, said they did not meet
because Raila decided to proceed to the venue alone.
"Kalonzo
and Raila were to meet that morning. But when Kalonzo got to the venue, only Wetang'ula and Mudavadi were there."
The county boss said they contacted Raila but were told that the Opposition leader had already left for the swearing-in.
"When they contacted Raila, he said he would not make it and would instead proceed to Uhuru Park for the swearing-in," he said.
Kibwana further claimed members of the inauguration's
organising
committee were not briefed on the happenings.
"ODM has not been fair. Even our representatives in the plans were kept in the dark
most of the time," he said.
"We are part of the NASA coalition but most of the time we were not briefed on meetings and progress."
The chairman noted ODM should respect other parties but added the co-principals were willing to talk to Raila about their differences.
"Yes, there are issues that need to be looked into but I want to assume that the Kamba nation and NASA are intact. All we ask for is respect from our other partner (ODM)," he said.
"There was a time we asked for a NASA retreat because there were many who were unsettled ... there are wrinkles in NASA that need to be ironed out first, especially distribution of leadership posts in Parliament and NASA's technical team. We need respect."
Kalonzo
blamed his absence on the pulling out of his security team. In an interview on Mbaitu FM, a local Kamba station, he said he had been ready for the event until the government abruptly withdrew his security detail.
The 2017 deputy president candidate asked his supporters not to lose faith in him after he skipped the much-publicised ceremony.
On Wednesday, he reported an attack at his home but police said it may have been fabricated.
Of security concerns, Kibwana said:
"NASA leaders were still deliberating on the oath's wording and how it would be administered but they were unable to meet to resolve the issue for fear of being nabbed."
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