Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka has given several conditions if he is to continue attending the prayer rallies organised by the G7 Alliance's William Ruto and Uhuru Kenyatta. Kalonzo and members of the Wiper Democratic Movement national executive committee said they will only attend joint rallies if the agenda of the rally is agreed upon in advance. Any future rallies, Kalonzo said, should be organised by a team which includes representatives from his party.
Acting Finance minister Njeru Githae was identified as the man leading the party's team which will be coordinating the joint rallies. “The party leader is under instructions not to attend any joint rally, which is not coordinated by the Githae led team,” said party vice chairman David Musila.
Other members of the Githae team are Johnstone Muthama, Victor Munyaka, Charles Nyamai and Mohamed Affey. While insisting that Kalonzo will continue working closely with the other leaders in the G7 Alliance, the party said it will not "succumb to elements" within the group who want to sideline him. “We have no major reason to ask the VP to pull out of the rallies and we know there are elements within the G7 who want to sideline the VP but we can not succumb to them,” Musila added.
Last week, more thanr 50 MPs attended a meeting at Sagret hotel in Nairobi and appointed Cecily Mbarire, David Koech and Abdul Bahari to co-ordiante meetings. They left Kalonzo's representatives out of the team and ousted Muthama who had been the group's chief whip. The VP who chaired the NEC/PG meetin left before it ended to attend yet another meeting with Sabaot MP Eugene Wamalwa, a member of the G7 alliance, at the Ole Sereni hotel in Nairobi.
The party stood behind statements made by Muthama during the Machakos rally held two weeks ago in which he is reported to have said Kalonzo stood to gain if Ruto and Uhuru were taken to the Hague to stand trial for their involvement in the post election violence. Yesterday the party defended Muthama against criticism saying his words had been "misinterpreted and taken out of context" by "elements paid to put their own interpretation to his statements."
The party attributed the crisis that precipitated last week's 'ouster' of Muthama and Kalonzo from the G7 alliance to "a misunderstanding which has since been addressed. “The Hon. William Ruto and Uhuru Kenyatta met the VP last week and resolved to work together and that what the party stands for,” Musila said.
Yesterday sources intimated that the meeting held at the party headquarter contemplated looking for other alternative allies of working with G7 becomes untenable. This was alluded to by Musila who said the party had mandated Kalonzo to work closely not only with G7 leader but other like-minded political leaders. The party also distanced itself from calls to have Justice minister Mutula Kilonzo fired.
The party says it is the prerogative to the President to hire and fire ministers and therefore it was not within its mandate to decide any minister's fate. “The VP has denied writing to the president to have Mutula fired and equally its not the business of the party to request for anybody’s sacking,” Musila who was accompanied by seven MPs said.
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