ODM, Ford-K plan joint campaign for elections

TUESDAY, 03 JANUARY 2012 00:18 BY SIMBI KUSIMBA

Prime Minister Raila Odinga's ODM party and Ford Kenya headed by Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetang'ula have embarked on a joint campaign in Western, the Star has established. Wetang'ula met with fellow Cabinet ministers Anyang' Nyong'o and James Orengo at Kisumu's Imperial Hotel for more than an hour on December 23 before joining Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi and Forestry minister Noah Wekesa, MPs Yusuf Chanzu and Justus Kizito at the Khachonge home of Luhya Elders Forum chairman Patrick Wangamati on Chritsmas eve.

Sources said Wetang'ula may put on hold his presidential ambitions and support Raila's bid as a result of the new found cooperation. "We are trying to entrench the PM since our party leader will not be running for the presidency," said a senior Ford Kenya official who did not want to be named.

Wangamati hosted elders from all 18 Luhya sub tribes on December 23. He also hosted Teso, Sabaot, Kony, Ndorobo, and Morimo on the Christmas Eve. The first meeting was attended by the chairman of the Western Elders Advisory council Dr Machanja Ligabo. Mudavadi and Wetang'ula asked Wangamati to convene a similar meeting for all 24 MPs from Western before Parliament re-opens. "Our unity is a process but not an event and we shall continue with the process until it is achieved.

The agenda of social, political development and economic empowerment being pursued is critical. God has put us together, whether we like it or not, so let us work together," Mudavadi said. "It is important for us to be united. The next president will come from a coalition as no party can go it alone. This meeting is not for political party politics," Wetangula said.

He said MPs from the region are the biggest impediment to Luhya unity as they always fight each other. "How can you be honourable if your words are dishonourable?" Wekesa wondered. "Our numbers must have meaning. Which god will come down and help us if we are divided yet we are a rich people sitting on wealth we do not see, and do not touch,? we must change now," Wetangula said.

Former cabinet minister Burudi Nabwera, who is the second vice chairman of the Luhya Elders Forum, said although the meeting was to celebrate Christmas, the elders used the opportunity to take stock of achievements and foster unity among MPs from the region as elections approach."We need to find out why MPs fail to turn up at such fora when invited and why the legislators play divisive politics by attacking ministers from the region with alarming frequency. Our task is to improve relations among our leaders, unite our community with others in the country to realize lasting peace," Nabwera said.

Wangamati, who has lately been consulting with the Luo Council of Elders told Mudavadi: You have the capacity to mobilize all the MPs from Western so put in pressure on them to become team players. Ndorobo Elders chair Johnson Cheprot said residents of Mt Elgon were ready to support a presidential bid by a neighbour in place of candidates who hail from far flung areas.