•Raila has been facing an aggressive onslaught from allies of Deputy President William Ruto led by Malindi MP Aisha Jumwa.
•On Wednesday, he declined to comment on the revelations, saying he would do so once the speaker makes a formal communication.
Image: SENATE
The ODM party has ousted Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala as Senate deputy minority leader, triggering a fresh storm in the Nasa coalition.
Malala’s removal will widen the cracks in Nasa and solidify the Sacred Alliance of Musalia Mudavadi (ANC), Kalonzo Musyoka (Wiper), Moses Wetang'ula (Ford Kenya) and Kanu’s Gideon Moi.
ODM has protested that the Sacred Alliance was being propelled by a section of powerful individuals in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government to tame Raila ahead of 2022.
The orange party's loss in the Matungu parliamentary by-election in which ANC won was the last straw that broke the camel's back.
On Wednesday, 20 ODM senators signed a petition to oust Malala managing to strip him of his position in the Senate.
The lawmakers later held a parliamentary group meeting in Parliament buildings where they ratified the decision.
Malala is accused of being disrespectful to NASA co-principals including Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka and ODM deputy party leader Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya.
The lawmakers picked Kilifi Senator Steward Madzayo to replace Malala in what was seen as a strategic move by Raila to consolidate the Kilifi support base.
Raila has been facing an aggressive onslaught from allies of Deputy President William Ruto led by Malindi MP Aisha Jumwa.
The push by Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi to form a Coast-based party has complicated Raila’s fortunes in the region.
However, the decision by the ODM senators elicited fierce reactions from other NASA affiliates who termed the move as selfish and illegal.
It comes against the backdrop of a bitter fallout and nasty public exchanges between ODM and Ford Kenya, Wiper and ANC.
“I condemn the removal of Senator Cleophas Malala as Senate deputy minority leader. It is selfish, unhelpful, unlawful, vindictive, intolerant, vengeful and against the NASA coalition agreement. It has a direct link to the outcome of the Matungu by-election,” Ford Kenya leader Moses Wetang'ula tweeted soon after news of Malala’s removal broke.
ANC’s Musalia Mudavadi termed Malala’s removal as regrettable and affront on democracy and all its tenets.
“While all manner of excuses will be floated, it is clear to all of us that Malala was removed because of his role in the recent Matungu by-election where the ANC candidate, he campaigned for, won,” Mudavadi said.
He said, “Kenya no longer has room for political deception, big brotherhood syndrome and intolerance.”
Mudavadi, Wetang'ula and Wiper’s Kalonzo wrote a protest letter to Senate Speaker Kenneth Lusaka persuading him to reject Malala’s removal.
“An appeal is hereby made for the speaker’s intervention not to confirm and suspend the unprocedural and unilateral removal of Senator Cleophas Malala by Senate members of the ODM party and changes made by the same ODM party without consultation with its Nasa partners,” reads the letter bearing the names of the trio.
They said the ODM decision was in breach of the coalition’s power-sharing agreement.
They asked the speaker to suspend the changes until such a time when the coalition caucuses and presents a legitimate list.
The letter is signed by ANC chairman Kelvin Lunani, acting Wiper secretary-general Peter Mathuki and Ford Kenya national organising secretary Chris Mandu Mandu.
According to Senate deputy minority whip Beatrice Kwamboka, Malala is accused of among others being a stumbling block to the coalition’s agenda, alleged gross misconduct and mischief in the recently concluded Matungu parliamentary by-election.
He is also accused of disrespecting the Nasa principals and hurling insults at the ODM deputy party leader and Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya during the recent by-election in Matungu.
Last year, the senator while belittling Oparanya’s stub at the presidency, declared that the county boss’s face is not presidential.
Malala troubles with the ODM party started in August last year after he rejected Raila and President Uhuru Kenyatta’s directive to support the contentious revenue sharing formula.
On Wednesday, he declined to comment on the revelations, saying he would do so once the speaker makes a formal communication.
Raila personally attacked Malala for ‘denying his constituents money’ in the contentious formula.
“If you are elected as an MP or a Senator, you are supposed to represent the people, the formula has been tabled in the Senate, but you say you do not want to deny funds to people from other counties, are you really elected by the people of Kakamega?”
“If you see a senator that is having their county getting more funds but is rejecting the formula, it's not that they love the other counties more? There is trouble, there is a question mark,” Raila had said in Kakamega last year.
ANC deputy party leader and Lugari MP Ayub Savula accused ODM of engaging in unnecessary confrontation with its affiliates in Nasa.
“We do not need sideshows in Nasa. We have consulted with Wiper and they are not going to side with ODM on this matter,” he told the Star.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris