Showdown looms as ANC vows to block Azimio Kakamega meet

A showdown is looming in Kakamega on Friday after ANC threatened to scuttle Azimio la Umoja meeting to be attended by ODM leader Raila Odinga in Kakamega.

The meeting has been convened by Cotu secretary general Francis Atwoli and is expected to rally the Luhya nation into the Azimio Movement.

Yesterday, Raila confirmed that he will attend the meeting to be held at Bukhungu Stadium minutes after some ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi's allies insisted the meeting will not happen.

“I want to say there is no meeting in Bukhungu Stadium on the 31st. We don't want brokers in Luhya politics,” Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala said.

He added, “The worst part of it is that they will say Raila Tosha. Why don't you go and do it in Kondele or Siaya? Kakamega is a no go zone.”

He was speaking in Mbale where they attended the 41st Vihiga Cultural Festival. Mudavadi and Ford Kenya's Moses Wetang'ula were present.

Mudavadi hit out at Atwoli, saying the veteran unionist is being used by outsiders as a stooge to divide Luhya votes.

“We are saying No. A person who is not seeking any elective seat will not stand and say he wants to determine who shall be the MP, who shall be the Women Rep, who shall be governor and who shall be president,” Musalia said.

“Hatutaki wakenya wapimiwe hewa...We don't want Kenyans put on political ventilators,” he said, adding that Kenyans must be given an opportunity to elect their leaders.

Wetang'ula alleged the meeting could be a plot to get funding from certain quarters.

“We shall soon tell him (Atwoli) enough is enough, stop or we shall stop you,” he said.

The Ford Kenya boss made reference to some people who they have voted for in the past and who are now seeking to use “illegitimate” leaders to penetrate the community vote block.

“Having failed to enter Mulembe through the door, they are now seeking to enter through the window and the roof. We want to tell them it will not work,” he said.

He said the same forces had engineered the formation of a Western Kenya political party to divide the community in an apparent reference to the Democratic Action Party of Kenya associated with Defence CS Eugene Wamalwa.

Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala announced that they would scuttle the Bukhungu meeting since it's not sanctioned by Mudavadi.

Mudavadi said he will be very unpredictable in his 2022 political moves.

“If you thought that I am predictable, I want to tell Kenyans that in the year 2022, I am going to be extremely unpredictable,” he said without elaborating.

Both Raila and Deputy President William Ruto have been aggressively courting Musalia for a political deal. He has publicly declined their advances.

-Edited by SKanyara