•Nasa chiefs have been rowing lately in efforts to have Raila back their ambitions.
•Kalonzo says Raila is to blame for the fallouts in coalitions he has crafted before.
Image: FILE
Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka has hit back at Raila Odinga saying the ODM leader does not mean well for the country hence cannot be trusted with the presidency.
The former Vice President, in a hard-hitting statement, asked Kenyans to be wary of the former Prime Ministers’ political moves saying Raila may refuse to leave office if voted as president.
In what could escalate the bitter fallout among the Nasa chiefs, Kalonzo said the ODM leader should be called out as an unreliable coalition partner.
Adding a fresh twist to the succession debate, Kalonzo said that there was no guarantee the ODM leader will not abandon President Uhuru Kenyatta and join the latter’s rivals before the 2022 polls.
Kalonzo argues that the ODM leader “has cast himself as an extremely self-centered man who will get into power by hook or crook.”
He added in the Monday statement that Raila has turned out as one who is “extremely untrustworthy” and a man who cannot keep promises.
“How can Kenyans trust such a man to be their President? For a man who cannot keep his word while in opposition, how will he keep it while in power as President? Who will trust him?” Kalonzo asked.
“A leader who cannot keep his word is a great danger to the people he rules. Once elected, he may even refuse to leave office by changing the Constitution to become a life president,” the Wiper leader said.
The Wiper leader further sensationally claimed that Raila negotiated a handshake with President Kenyatta to get trappings of power.
Kalonzo said Raila’s assertions that he wouldn’t endorse any of the Nasa chiefs arises from the ODM leader being frustrated after becoming isolated.
Once elected, he may even refuse to leave office by changing the Constitution to become a life president.Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka
The Wiper boss says time has run out for Raila adding that the ODM leader faces a decisive defeat in the next polls.
“Firing of blanks will not help to boost his dwindling political fortunes” the former VP said in the hard-hitting statement issued by his campaign secretariat.
He further pointed out that the ODM leader’s political clout is coming to an end and that he won’t survive without the support of the regional kingpins – Kalonzo, Musalia Mudavadi, and Moses Wetangula.
“What has been escaping his mind, however, is the fact that his so-called national popularity has mainly been emanating from the goodwill and support of the regional kingpins who have been coalescing around him, believing he can be trusted,” the statement reads.
Kalonzo said Raila is to blame for the collapse of coalitions the ODM leader has crafted ahead of elections.
He said the collapse of the NDP-Kanu coalition in 2001; the Pentagon of 2007; Cord, and now Nasa have taken similar fashions, saying the events have denied the ODM leader national support.
The Wiper leader says the ODM leader seems blind to the waning support, adding that this will become clearer across the country ahead of the 2022 vote.
“The same can be said of the support he has been enjoying from other parts of the country, which is fostered by regional supremos, giving him that false sense of entitlement to Kenya's vote basket.”
The upheavals in Nasa erupted after Raila declared he would not back any of the Nasa principals for the presidential seat.
ODM followed through in a statement where the party claimed Kalonzo joined Raila after failing to reap from the ICC troubles Uhuru and DP William Ruto faced ahead of the 2013 general elections.
The ODM leader cited the lot’s absence from his controversial swearing-in as the ‘People’s President’ in January 2018.
Kalonzo, Musalia, Wetang’ula, and Kanu leader Gideon Moi (Baringo Senator) are crafting a new alliance, which they expect Raila to endorse.