Blame games rock Azimio coalition over August election loss

Barely four months after the August 9 poll, blame games, sabotage and mistrust have returned to rock Raila Odinga’s Azimio camp exposing behind the scene intrigues that may have cost them victory.

At the centre of focus is the payment of agents and coordination of crucial campaign activities where former ICT CS Joe Mucheru has been roped in.

Also brought on the shore is Suna East MP Junet Mohammed and Azimio la Umoja spokesperson Makau Mutua who former Raila Odinga’s chief agent Saitabao Kanchory says are ‘highly’ responsible for the loss.

In a tell-it-all interview with NTV, Kanchory says, “We went wrong the minute we dismantled the structures we had, the campaign board was supposed to run everything but some individuals who wanted to have their agenda individualised it.”

He has even vowed to release a book giving more insights into how they lost.

He claimed all other members who were to help in running the operations were kicked out with a few left to run the show.

According to Kanchory, Mohammed “nullified what everyone else said and ensured that people who would have helped Raila are kept at arm’s length.”

Mohammed has, however, not commented on it but Embakasi East MP Babu Owino has defended him saying he was not involved.

“People are fighting Junet for no reason, I can tell you the truth. Do you think that money meant for the agents was commensurate to what he would have been in Baba’s government? Do you think he would have left this election to just go?” he posed.

Mucheru, Kanchory said sabotaged the agents’ management system.

“He ensured that everyone who had a role in printing the names of people that I signed were his people and were under instructions not to deliver and they succeeded,” he claims.

But, Mucheru has absolved himself from any blame saying there was no interruption in the transmission of results.

“It is interesting how facts come in the way of the truth. He was the chief agent responsible for all agents period. I was not,” Mucheru is quoted to have responded over the allegations.

“It is on record that 99.6 per cent of polling stations transmitted their results, it is also on record there was full interrupted media coverage of the elections and the Supreme Court proceedings media and connectivity for results transmission were only national responsibilities.”

Owino has also distanced the Kenya Kwanza from any blame saying, “We have to blame ourselves, the problem started within our house.”

Former MP Jeremiah Kioni from the Jubilee party shares similar sentiments with Kanchory saying the issue of agents was poorly managed.

Babu said the agents were to be paid in bunches but intentionally they were not.

“The person who was supposed to pay the agents was not from our side but from Uhuru’s side,” he claims.

In the interview, Mutua is said to have declined to comment about the push and pull in the camp.

In a past statement, however, when the matter came up, Mutua said none should blame the coalition or its candidates for what he termed as 'flawed elections.'

“We must appreciate that it is not the responsibility of candidates to protect the vote or conduct a free and fair election. That constitutional duty lies with the IEBC working in concert [sic] with relevant institutions. No one should blame Azimio or our candidates for stolen votes or a fatally flawed election,” Mutua’s statement read.

In what it might make or break the coalition, ODM secretary general Edwin Sifuna says there was a need for discussion on the role that each of the persons coordinating the process played.

“I invite Kioni to discuss with us, we are more than happy to have it, let them tell us if they want to chart another path, that is also okay,” he says.

Kioni has said in Mt Kenya there was more than selling what Uhuru has achieved developments and his legacy rather than the campaigns.

“The campaigns in Mt Kenya were never between Ruto and Raila but Uhuru and Ruto and that made it very easy for us to have lost it,” he claims.

Narok Senator Ledama Ole Kina said none is to be blamed in Azimio.