• Osotsi fights to save his seat after ANC expels him for failing to tow party line.
• Osotsi and Malala promise mother of all battles to wrest party from Mudavadi.
Image: EZEKIEL AMING'A
The power struggle in ANC has taken a new twist after two MPs threatened to kick out party leader Musalia Mudavadi and his team.
Senator Cleophas Malala (Kakamega) and nominated MP Godfrey Osotsi told Mudavadi to look for a political vehicle to use in 2022 as he is no longer welcome in ANC.
Osotsi is fighting to save his seat after ANC expelled him for failing to tow the party line. The national executive council, in a special meeting on Monday, kicked him out. He was also accused of mismanaging party funds.
“Hon Godfrey Osotsi stands expelled from ANC. He is no longer a member of this party and ceases to enjoy the privileges attendant to being a member, or to act on behalf of the party in any way whatsoever,” secretary general Barack Muluka said, citing Articles 50 and 51 of the party constitution.
But Osotsi and Malala promised the mother of all political battles in their bid to wrest the party from Mudavadi.
“The same mistake he is committing is the same mistake he did with UDF. I would advise him to start looking for a party to run on because ANC has its owners,” Malala said.
“The purported expulsion is null and void. How can you chase someone from a party that is not yours?”
He said Osotsi is a bona fide member of ANC and the legitimate secretary general and is "going nowhere", contrary to the demands by some party leaders.
Osotsi said anyone who wants to ascertain the real owners of the party should check with the Registrar of Political Parties. The embattled lawmaker claimed he is being targeted to make room for a girlfriend of a senior party member whose name was next in the ANC nomination list.
He said he formed ANC way back in 2015 alongside nine like-minded Kenyans and only roped in Mudavadi after he was kicked out of UDF.
“ANC at the point of registration had 11 members who are not known and who will be known very soon. I have been rattled. Those fake meeting they have been having cannot expel me,” Osotsi said.
Malala dared the party to expel him for standing with Osotsi.
They plan to convene a national delegates conference during which they will declare the party's real owners.
“I've tolerated the nonsense in ANC for long. I want to challenge those who have met to go to the Registrar of Political Parties to confirm the officials of ANC,” Osotsi said.
“How can someone come and intimidate me in my own party?”
To justify his claim on party’s ownership, Osotsi said Muluka unsuccessfully tried to field a candidate in Ugenya and Embakasi South because he was not recognised by the IEBC.