Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka has triggered a political storm after saying President Uhuru Kenyatta should carve out an Executive after his term.
The remarks sparked a flurry of reactions, with critics gleefully saying he had given up his presidential ambitions.
In a News Night interview on Citizen TV, Kalonzo said Uhuru is the best President Kenya has ever had, delivering a damning verdict for the country’s three past heads of state — including Mwai Kibaki, who appointed him Vice President between 2007 and 2013.
“Uhuru is the best President. I admire what he is doing. No other President has ever been this bold. Therefore, we have a responsibility to support him,” Kalonzo said.
He said the President’s development track record and determination to fight graft was unparalleled, thus the reason he would back him to be Prime Minister.
“Imagine a situation where Uhuru says he wants to go home after 2022, but Kenyans seeing a return of resources and money hidden in foreign accounts and the Kenyan economy rebound and surely ... wouldn’t you reconsider?” Kalonzo said.
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He further said he was more than willing to take up the Deputy Prime Minister post, should Kenyans approve it in a referendum.
“I could step down for him (Uhuru) if he wants to be Prime Minister. If it is that what he wants, I will support him wholeheartedly and perhaps I will be going for the Deputy Prime Minister as long as everything is on the table,” Kalonzo said.
The remarks triggered a swift response from his Ukambani backyard.
Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua yesterday said the Wiper leader’s remarks confirmed he was no longer in the 2022 presidential race.
Mutua said the former VP was not endorsed from his backyard.
“It should be noted that there has not been a regional meeting to declare who will be the front runner for the Eastern region. The so-called Koma meetings were organised by Hon. Kalonzo Musyoka, where he ferried his own Wiper party supporters to declare him a presidential candidate. The region is yet to make a decision on who is electable nationally as the President of Kenya,” Mutua said in a statement.
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While Uhuru has kept the country guessing over his post 2022 role, Kalonzo threw the spanner in the works calling on him to remain in government, even after the end of his two constitutional terms.
Kalonzo added: “We support him in the fight against graft, his Big Four agenda, his attempt to unite the country. We are seeing a President who is more invigorated in the fight against corruption, and these cartels that have run down our economy.”
He has previously said he would be in the ballot in 2022 and that he was not willing to play lesser a role in the post-2022 era.
Last week, Kalonzo called for the removal of the presidential term limit at a Wiper meeting in Komarock.
“Tuungane, with other communities, tumsaidie ndugu Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta. Kama atasema after the new Constitution tumeiunda na mimi nataka kuendelea mbele ntamwambia nitakusupport (Let’s come together with other communities and help our brother Uhuru Kenyatta. If he says after the new Constitution that he wants to proceed I will support him),” he said.
But Kalonzo, who has previously been accused of flip-flopping, said he was quoted out of context.
He denied he was pushing for the extension of presidential terms, saying the “in the Constitution 2010 Kenyans spoke against over two terms.”
“I will be completely out of my mind for Kenyans to think I will want an extension of the term of presidency,” Kalonzo said.
Yesterday, Kathiani MP Robert Mbui said Kalonzo is on a deliberate plan to endear himself to the Central Kenya as part of his 2022 game plan. He said the Wiper leader is on a mission to make amends with Uhuru’s backyard after a decade of bad blood.
Since 2007, the Ukambani region has been rocked in a bitter political fight with central Kenya backyard.
“I think Kalonzo is playing to the gallery. He is looking at the vote basket that Uhuru controls. He is saying that so that he can inherit Uhuru’s support base,” Mbui said.
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