Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka and his Ford-Kenya counterpart Moses Wetang’ula are in the final stages of forming a political alliance ahead of the 2022 polls. The move by Kalonzo and Wetang’ula to form a new alliance is on grounds that Raila Odinga, the ODM leader wants Nasa dead so that he can form a new alliance to run for the presidency 2022.
To them, if Nasa is allowed to survive in its current state, none of the principals will be willing step down for Raila 2022. This is on the grounds that the first MoU between Raila and Kalonzo, Raila was to back Kalonzo in 2017 having been his running mate in 2013. Raila, however, bulldozed and ran for the presidency in 2017 having brought Musalia Mudavadi on board to counter the Kalonzo factor.
The two leaders, insiders averred, plan to rope in Amani National Congress leader Mudavadi at a later date, in what will mark the formal death of Nasa.
Raila
Already, Wiper has thrown its weight behind the Ford-Kenya candidate in Kibra, Khamisi Butichi to reciprocate Ford-Kenya’s gesture of backing its candidate Julius Mawathe in the Embakasi South parliamentary race. Mawathe defeated the ODM candidate, Irshard Sumra in the hotly contested by-election.
That all is not well in Nasa was seen when ODM secretary Edwin Sifuna rubbished claims by Mudavadi that the handshake deal between Uhuru and ODM leader was after foreign pressure.
During talks at Muungano SDA church in New Jersey in the USA, Mudavadi claimed the duo agreed after they were threatened with travel ban from Western countries.
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The ODM party also issued a statement. Musalia had earlier claimed that he and Wetang’ula and Kalonzo only learnt of handshake through the media.
The party statement reads: “At the last minute, he is known to have switched off his phone, possibly to have it “woken up” by a Nigerian line later, and disappeared from his colleagues”.
“In subsequent years, Mudavadi has perfected the philosophy of the so-called safe hands, waiting like the proverbial hyena that waited for a man’s hands to fall,” it adds.
But in a rejoinder, ANC party in a statement signed by the secretary-general Barrack Muluka states that ANC will not be drawn into verbal fights with ODM.
Kalonzo
“We instead stand firmly with our party leader, Hon Musalia Mudavadi, EGH. We reaffirm the veracity of his words on the so-called “swearing-in” of Raila Odinga and the handshake,” ANC states that Odinga’s behaviour prior to the handshake was laden with uncertainties, to the point that one can question whether he had the interest of the country.
To add, it reads: “It is not lost upon Kenyans that a gentleman who “boldly” swore himself in as “president,” in the style of Napoleon Bonaparte and Jean-Bedel Bokassa, moved swiftly and mysteriously to surrender at Harambee House, the president’s office and to suddenly cast himself in the role of a votary of peace”.
Muluka seems to refer to Raila as a dictator comparing him to Emperor Jean Bedel Bokassa.
Insiders add that the Kibra by-election and refusal by ODM to share Sh4 billion political parties fund with sister Nasa parties forced Kalonzo and Wetang’ula to form the new alliance and the duo are open to the possibility of teaming up with deputy president William Ruto to teach Raila a lesson in the 2022 polls.
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The ODM party has categorically stated it would not share the windfall with Wiper, Amani National Congress and Ford Kenya parties who are demanding a piece of the cake, arguing the cash was awarded to the defunct Nasa coalition and not the Raila- led outfit alone.
Last week, Kalonzo, Mudavadi and Wetang’ula suffered a major setback in their battle for a share the Sh4.1 billion allocated to ODM.
Registrar of Political Parties Anne Nderitu disclosed that the coalition agreement ODM, Wiper, ANC and Ford Kenya submitted ahead of the 2017 general election did not contain any clause on the sharing of funds from the exchequer.
The document, according to Nderitu, only contained how the four partners would have shared power if they formed the government.
“When dealing with coalitions, we go by what the parties agreed in the MoU. If it gives a formula of sharing of funds, then we go with that,” said Nderitu.
Mudavadi
She explained that in the event there is no such declaration, then they rely on the Political Parties Act, which stipulates the requirement for a political party to benefit from public funding.
“In this particular case, the MoU did not stipulate such a formula and, therefore, we cannot enforce the sharing of the funds. We go by what the Act provides,” she said.
For a political outfit to benefit from public funding, it must have at least 5pc of the total vote in tallies for the president, members of parliament, governors and MCAs in the last general election.
It is only the ruling Jubilee party and ODM that meet this requirement, making them the only parties entitled to the funding.
The revelation now puts Wiper, ANC and Ford Kenya at the mercy of Raila, who will decide how to share the windfall with his partners in the now-moribund coalition.
Nderitu made the remarks when appearing before the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee chaired by Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi.
Earlier, ODM secretary general Edwin Sifuna had argued that they were no longer in any marriage with Wiper, ANC and Ford Kenya.
Reacting to the demands by the former coalition partners, Sifuna argued even the Nasa coalition they were talking about collapsed in 2018 and therefore they were not in any relationship with the aggrieved parties.
“Nasa marriage collapsed last year. It is very weird that people who made it clear that they were done with ODM as a partner are now looking for us because they have heard we ran into some little money,” Sifuna told a local television station.
The four parties, ODM, Wiper, ANC and Ford Kenya had called for a meeting to agree on how to share the Sh4.1 billion after they failed to reach an agreement during their initial meeting.
The Court of Appeal in June 2019 awarded ODM Sh4 billion from the political parties fund, being an unpaid accumulated amount for the last five years.
A majority of the three-judge bench, Justices Otieno Odek and Daniel Musinga, ruled that parliament should pay the money backdated to November 1 2011 until the arrears are cleared.
The ruling sparked a vicious battle, splitting the Nasa coalition.
“Ford Kenya is a like a slay queen insulting the spouse and then expecting to be sent rent. ODM will not give Ford Kenya even a penny. Whatever they contributed to the Nasa coalition has been negated by their propaganda and slaying with deputy president William Ruto,” said Sifuna
Wetangula
The Orange party accused Wetang’ula’s party of trying to make good his threats of a ‘messy and nosy’ divorce from the coalition.
“Ford Kenya has no locus standi. The money belongs to ODM and it is the party which will decide what to do with it. There is nowhere it is agreed that we share money with anybody,” Sifuna insisted.
The Nasa coalition has been wobbly since the March 9 2018 handshake with frequent squabbles over claims of unilateral decisions by Raila and bullying of partners.
After Raila was named Africa Union envoy for infrastructure development and Kalonzo picked to lead peace negotiations in South Sudan, observers concluded that that the Nasa coalition had become moribund.
Wetang’ula had declared the coalition ‘dead’ but his ANC counterpart Mudavadi insisted the coalition was alive and kicking and would continue to check the Jubilee administration.
Lately, hobnobbing with Ruto, Wetang’ula declared that he is his party’s 2022 presidential candidate.
Increasingly isolated by coalition partners in the post-handshake era, Wetang’ula said he would move to court to compel ODM to share with other partners the millions it received from the parties’ fund.
He said Ford Kenya, like other affiliate parties, was entitled to a share because of its contribution to the ODM party whose candidate, Raila, was the joint coalition presidential candidate.
According to the records by the Registrar of Political Parties, ODM received Sh112,255,956 in the 2017/18 financial year while Jubilee bagged Sh240,375,303.
In the 2016/17 financial year, ODM received Sh131,233,622 while Jubilee got Sh145,911,499.
The main source of the fund is the Treasury which is required to remit 0.3pc of national revenue. However, parties are at liberty to collect other levies like membership fee, contributions and donations.
The law states that a political party is entitled to funding if it secures at least 3pc of the total number of votes at the preceding general election.
In addition, the party must have 20 elected members of the national assembly; three elected members of the senate; three elected governors; and at least 40 elected members of county assemblies.
To qualify for funding the party must also not have more than two-thirds of its registered office bearers being from the same gender.
Hence, ODM and Jubilee are the only two parties recognised in law. ODM has 73 elected MPs and 20 senators while Ford Kenya has 12 MPs and only one senator.
Wiper has 21 MPs and three senators, compared to ANC’s 13 MPs and three senators.
Another storm is the ongoing Kibra by-election campaign which has triggered a fresh round of political bickering between ODM party and its partners in the moribund Nasa coalition.
The Orange party accuses its partners of betrayal by fielding candidates.
Sifuna
The high stakes Kibra race set for November 7 2019 has attracted more than 20 candidates, among them ANC’s Eliud Owalo, Khamisi Butichi from Ford Kenya and Jubilee party’s candidate McDonald Mariga.
Each of the aspirants have in the recent days intensified campaigns in the vote rich Kibra constituency which has now been turned into a battlefield between ODM’s fight to retain the parliamentary seat on one hand and its Nasa partners and Jubilee on the other hand trying to flex their political muscles.
The Kibra parliamentary seat fell vacant following death of area MP Ken Okoth on July 26 2019.
Okoth who was a member of ODM was battling colorectal cancer and was on treatment for nearly seven months locally and abroad.
