- Kalonzo has insisted that the deal is between OKA and Azimio.
- Raila's side holds different opinion.
Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s Azimio La Umoja coalition has been marred by confusion days after a colourful launch by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
At the centre of the chaos is Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka’s claim of a coalition-to-coalition deal between Azimio and One Kenya Alliance.
Whereas Raila men argue that the law does not allow for partnership between coalitions, the former Vice President has maintained that he joined Raila’s Azimio as One Kenya Alliance.
According to Raila team, there was no way they could ink a coalition-to-coalition deal as the new political parties law does not allow for such arrangement.
Azimio campaign spokesperson Makau Mutua and chairman of national campaign board Ndiritu Muriithi distanced Azimio from Kalonzo’s coalition-to-coalition arrangement.
The development contradicts the Wiper leader who alongside Kanu chairman Gideon Moi are the latest entrants into the nascent coalition.
"We are Azimio and our presidential candidate is Raila Odinga," Makau said.
"Other leaders who joined the coalition came to Azimio unconditionally and that does not mean there is no negotiations going on."
Ndiritu while dismissing the Azimio-Oka alliance said the 24 political parties which signed, including Kalonzo's Wiper, did so as individual political outfits.
"According to the law, one political party cannot be a member of two coalitions; that is why on Saturday the SGs of the parties signed for their individual parties," Ndiritu said.
Yesterday, the Wiper boss lifted the lid on the unfinished business in his August 9 election deal with Raila.
In an interview with KTN News on Monday, the Wiper leader claimed he was not aware of what the 24 parties coalescing under Azimio la Umoja signed.
Kalonzo claimed the whole process was rushed and that the agreement did not factor his proposal for the outfit to be called Azimio-One Kenya.
“The name of the grand coalition is Azimio-One Kenya, which will be registered as a coalition party,” he said.
The former Vice President said the grey areas were the reason Wiper secretary general Shakila Abdalla did not append her signature to the membership of Azimio la Umoja.
“Nobody knows what people signed at KICC. If you ask the secretaries general what they affixed their signatures to, nobody knows,” Kalonzo said.
Saying the “whole thing was confusing”, the Wiper leader said they agreed in their negotiations with Raila to call the outfit Azimio-One Kenya.
“It was proposed as such. If that thing was not rushed as it was, we would have come as One Kenya Alliance. My secretary general did not sign the second document because it was specific about Azimio,” he said.
The Wiper leader said his lawyers would look at the technicality with the hope the coalition would be registered as he has proposed, adding that some Oka members were uncomfortable with the deal.
“Martha Karua (Narc Kenya leader) was a bit uncomfortable. Even at Oka, we wanted to register as a coalition political party, but we realised the constituent parties had to wind up,” Kalonzo said.
In what reveals the developing fissures in the arrangement before its take-off, Makau said what was signed was an agreement to form the Azimio Coalition Party.
“That is what was signed. Political parties come to Azimio as individual political parties. Not as alliances or coalitions,” Makau said, adding that Azimio is built in the spirit of the handshake.
Kieni MP Kanini Kega however downplayed the cracks in the Azimio deal saying it is a storm in a tea cup which is being addressed by the coalition’s technical committee.
“A rose by any other name smells as sweet, what is important is bringing all the teams together. A name at the moment is not important, we will actually agree on one name,” Kanini said.
“The technical team is working on the finer details.”
Kanini , Uhuru’s close ally, also maintained that the current dispensation does not allow for coalescing of coalitions.
“It is a coalition of parties, it is not a coalition of coalitions. The law that we passed is a parties coming together forming the coalition not coalitions forming coalition,” he added.
Also in contention is the deal on the running mate post. While press reports were rife with claims Kalonzo insisted on deputising Raila, the Wiper leader denied the assertions.
“There was nothing like 6-hour protracted discussion about anything. All these things had been agreed on. We insisted on structured dialogue and that is what we have been following. We did not discuss running mate question. Those discussions did not take place at all,” the Wiper leader quipped.
He further argued that what he gets in the Azimio configuration wouldn’t matter. “The discussion of running mate would follow. The important thing is to first of all secure the nation state.”
“It doesn’t matter what is in it for Kalonzo. The important question is what is in it for Kenyans. Some of us are that selfless. We did not go in it for personal gain…that is why I said Raila Tosha for the third time.”
Kalonzo said that regardless, his side was ready to proceed along the basis of formation of a grand coalition based on a three-legged stool in the African context.
“The three legged stool was to bring Jubilee under President Uhuru Kenyatta, and Oka – parties which signed a coalition agreement, and ODM as the other leg.”
-Edited by SKanyara