One Kenya Alliance trio of Kalonzo Musyoka, Musalia Mudavadi and Moses Wetang'ula is not ruling out teaming up with ODM leader Raila Odinga even as they formally signed to exit the National Super Alliance.
This even as Raila's key ally, Suna East MP and National Assembly Minority Chief Junet Mohamed also hinted at the former Prime Minister reuniting with the trio ahead of the 2022 polls.
Junet said though the Nasa partners have broken up, ODM—the opposition party with the highest number of legislators—will not remove their colleagues from parliamentary leadership positions.
"Yes, we can work with them. In politics, you never say never. Anything can happen. People who were enemies yesterday are friends today.
"As ODM, we don’t have any problem with anybody holding committee chair or any other position. These are our partners. We have worked together," Junet said.
On Tuesday, Nasa principals Kalonzo Musyoka (Wiper), Musalia Mudavadi (ANC) and Moses Wetang’ula (Ford Kenya) hinted at a possible renegotiation with their former Nasa partner even as they invite him in their new home, One Kenya Alliance.
The leaders, though blaming trust issues for their exit, were quick to welcome Raila to their new outfit.
Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang’ula, a ranking member of OKA, cited the story of Hollywood star Elizabeth Taylor who had several marriages and divorces.
“I invite you to go and read the history of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton and their lives in Hollywood, they married and divorced five times,” Wetang’ula said.
Mudavadi and Kalonzo said they welcome other like-minded individuals and parties to join the formation.
The Wiper leader said their unanimous decision to walk out of Nasa was not borne out of hate against anyone, adding that they will reach out to everybody ahead of 2022 polls.
“For the avoidance of doubt, we are reaching out to every person. We know that we need to form a political colossus that will win the next elections,” Kalonzo said.
“One Kenya is not a closed shop. We shall engage other Kenyans and as we move across the country, we shall make announcements that will be meaningful to Kenyans,” Mudavadi added.
Junet said a bigger political machine was in the works.
"We are now developing a proposal to come up with a bigger vessel that is going to carry everyone including OKA," Junet said, though ruling out the possibility of ODM joining OKA.
"It would be a bigger formation. Oka is too small for us to join as ODM," he said.
The reunion remarks come days after Raila gave the strongest signal of a possibility of working with his partners in the 2022 polls.
Speaking in Vihiga on Sunday, Raila talked of a possible reunion with the former Nasa luminaries under a different political umbrella.
“Leaving Nasa does not mean we cannot reunite. Nasa had served its purpose and in the future, we will work together,” Raila said on Sunday.
In quitting Nasa, the principals cited a lack of trust and bullying by ODM. They at the same time announced countrywide rallies to market OKA.
"Mindful of this trust deficit, our three parties, transparently informed the Kenyan people of their individual decision to leave the Nasa coalition," said Nambale MP Sakwa Bunyasi, who read the joint statement.
“A series of events after Nasa’s non-participation in the repeat 2017 presidential election revealed over time that change was untenable under the Nasa umbrella. Political parties are built on trust. Once that trust is eroded, the partnership cannot survive.”
The leaders said all instruments giving effect to the decision had been processed by each party in accordance with their respective party constitutions.
With the exit of the three parties, Nasa now stands dissolved in line with Article 15 (1) of the coalition’s agreement that states that the outfit stands dissolved when three of the partner parties leave.
-Edited by SKanyara
