No reunion with Raila ahead of polls, Mudavadi and Weta declare

ODM leader Raila Odinga's former allies, now working under the One Kenya Alliance, have ruled out a reunion with him ahead of next year's election.

ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi and his Ford Kenya counterpart Moses Wetang'ula said Raila cannot be trusted in future coalitions, even as OKA welcomes other like-minded individuals and parties to join the formation.

This emerged even as Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka is said to be actively pursuing money from the Political Parties Fund, which ODM had vowed not to share with NASA affiliates.

Based on the development, Raila Wednesday sent his deputy, Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya, to have a discussion with Kalonzo over the fund.

Sources told the Star that Kalonzo had secured an appointment with the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties to discuss the matter, but Oparanya reached out to him to have the matter resolved at a different forum.

Oparanya has admitted that he is seeking an amicable solution to the cash dispute. He said ODM seeks to have more meetings in the future to resolve it.

Raila is reportedly working on a reunion with his NASA co-principals, who are now insisting that the outfit is only alive on paper but practically dead.

Mudavadi said the chances of entering into another coalition agreement with ODM are “very slim”.

“If you create coalitions and then vandalise them and then you come out and say again you want to make another coalition people will start wondering how many of these will you create and again vandalise,” he said.

Mudavadi, nevertheless, said Raila can only join them if he wants to be part of their team “on matters related to ideologies and not personality". He maintained that the door is open to those who share in OKA's vision.

“There have been hurdles within NASA. Things have not been very smooth in the recent past—a lot of dishonest approaches within coalition members. Just as an example, the issue of sharing political party’s funds has not been resolved and this raises a lot of questions on the kind of partners you want to engage with going forward,” Mudavadi said.

He alleged a scheme of continuous sabotage from some of the affiliate party members, saying that has led to disquiet within the coalition.

“ODM has since engulfed itself in the big brother syndrome just with an example of how it has used its numbers in Parliament to elbow the other parties out of the parliamentary leadership positions, an aspect that the rest of the NASA affiliate parties say is a clear indication of a brother who doesn’t want to dine with others on the same table.

“The act of political deceit is a pandemic in our political arena and we need to deal with it systematically and quickly. The history around the breach of MoUs has become the norm,” he said.

OKA leaders, including Kanu chairman Gideon Moi, have been holding informal meetings in the recent past with the latest one held last Tuesday.

“We met to reflect on further steps to be undertaken in the coming weeks to strengthen and broaden the emerging political formation of One Kenya Alliance,” Mudavadi said.

Wetang'ula concurred, saying he does not see OKA entering into a coalition with Raila “having once suffered in the hands of the ruthless actions orchestrated by ODM when he was axed out of the Minority leader position in the Senate”.

He said at no time will they again feel comfortable with ODM as a partner politically. “It is absurd to have an agreement that all partners endeavour to nurture for the betterment of the whole nation and its people, just for a few individuals to purport to be the ones who will have their cake and eat it.” 

The political relationship between ANC and ODM was also eroded with the move to ouster Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala from the Senate Deputy Minority leader position.

Reports that Raila was seeking to reunite with his former allies came to the fore on April 13 when Gideon paid him a courtesy call. Moi was accompanied by Muhoho Kenyatta—the younger brother of President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Gideon, however, said the visit was to check on Raila’s recovery from the coronavirus which he contracted last month.

Though Oparanya said his meeting with Kalonzo was only about the Political Parties Fund, the Wiper leader tweeted that the discussions were on matters relevant to One Kenya Alliance.

ODM chairman John Mbadi is reported to have said the party has not been having any discussions with other parties on coalition building. He has further maintained that the Orange party will not give coalition partners any money from the Political Parties Fund.

Registrar of Political Parties Anne Nderitu told the National Assembly Public Accounts Committee that she gave ODM all the money because of the absence of a sharing formula.

ODM, on the other hand, said all parties campaigned for Raila but the annulment of that election means the Orange party owes them nothing.

It said affiliates are not entitled to the cash due to ODM on account of the votes received by the party’s governors, MPs and MCAs.