Sunday, February 19, 2012

Sack Mutula? Kalonzo says it wasn’t him



VP tending to goats/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya Feb 19- Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka on Sunday denied media reports alleging that he has asked President Kibaki to sack outspoken Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Mutula Kilonzo.
The VP termed the allegations as ‘propaganda’ in a message posted on his official Twitter account. “I have not written to the president in regard to Mutula,” the message read.
The article appearing in one of the Sunday newspapers quoted reliable sources who alleged that Musyoka handed the letter to the president during a meeting at Harambee House, Nairobi, on Friday.
The latest move was viewed as an attempt to ‘tame’ the Mbooni MP who has been vocal on his stand that Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto could not stand for president after being indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Kenyatta and Ruto have declared their presidential ambitions but Mutula’s opposition to their candidacy has not gone down well with MPs allied to them.
Musyoka has been under mounting pressure from this group to have the outspoken minister fired.
The Kenyatta, Ruto camp believes that Musyoka thinks he will be able to get the joint G7 nomination if they are out of the race.
The difference between Musyoka on one side, and Kenyatta and Ruto on the other, was worsened by a rally last weekend in which the VP hosted his colleagues in the Alliance in Machakos.
Those in the Kenyatta camp are said to have been unhappy with Musyoka over pronouncements that were made in the Kamba language to their presence, although they did not immediately understand what was said.
The comments by Kangundo MP Johnstone Muthama, a staunch Musyoka ally suggested that the VP stands to gain if Kenyatta and Ruto were committed to stand trial at The Hague.
During a meeting on Thursday presided over by both the two ICC accused and over 50 MPs, it was resolved that Musyoka be wiped out of the G7 alliance.
Musyoka and his group were deliberately not invited to the meeting.

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