Wednesday, June 6, 2012

I’m my own man – Mudavadi


Mudavadi told reporters that the presidency was not a preserve for select individuals and that it will be up to Kenyans to decide on the best candidate/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 5 – Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi on Monday evening insisted that he is not anyone’s project, let alone the G7 Alliance.
Mudavadi told reporters that the presidency was not a preserve for select individuals and that it will be up to Kenyans to decide on the best candidate.
The DPM who has declared his intention to run for presidency on a United Democratic Forum (UDF) party ticket said that he will hold talks – with the aim of working with other leaders – including those of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) which he left.
“There is no record of a party called the G7, the alliance exists as an informal group with its own formalities but I will engage with all Kenyans despite their tribes political parties. I have declared my intentions to vie on the UDF ticket and that has not changed,” affirmed the former ODM deputy leader.
“The position of president is not pre-determined for a particular person. People must move away from the notion that in Sabatia its only Musalia for MP and that any other candidate is as spoiler and is being pushed by external forces, if were to do that we should even better go back to a one party state,” he emphasised.
The Sabatia MP reiterated his campaigns was not being funded by the G7 Alliance saying that he had been in politics for a long time and could run his own campaigns.
“I have been in politics for over two decades now, what makes you think I cannot undertake my own activity?” he posed.
The DPM was over the weekend reported to be merging forces with Eldoret North MP William Ruto to defeat their main rival, Prime Minister Raila Odinga after he met Ruto and MPs from his United Republican Party (URP).
At his rally in Kakamega at the weekend, Cabinet minister Jamleck Kamau and assistant minister Lewis Nguiyai insisted that Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta was ready to work with Mudavadi.
Mudavadi who spoke on Monday after the official opening of the third urban reproductive health initiative annual meeting at the Windsor Golf Hotel and Country Club called for increased allocations for research in the country ignorer to achieve our development goals.
He decried the lack of access to reproductive health and family planning information and services saying it had caused maternal mortality to become major public health problem in Kenya.
“We estimate that maternal mortality is at 488 out of 100,000 live births today. This means that about 7,000 Kenyan women die every year from pregnancy-related complications. Hence, improving the reproductive health environment, including through family planning, should not be apportioned to the abortion debate, said the DPM.
“We must begin differentiating between pro-choice issues that maybe morally reprehensible and the process of reproductive health that seeks to lead to healthier and stable families, as a means of decreasing inequity and poverty,” he added.

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