Sunday, June 17, 2012

Leaders reveal secret deals


Leaders reveal secret deals

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By ALPHONCE SHIUNDU ashiundu@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Saturday, June 16  2012 at  21:09
Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka had separately signed secret agreements with the minister for Internal Security, Prof George Saitoti, on a plan to succeed President Kibaki.
The revelations came up on Saturday at Prof Saitoti’s burial ceremony in Enkasiti village, Kitengela, in Kajiado County.
Mr Musyoka said he had signed a “protocol” with Prof Saitoti and Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta regarding the next elections, and that, if the plan was followed through, it would guarantee national unity.
“If there’s one thing that has devastated me, it is the death of Prof Saitoti,” said Mr Musyoka. “This death is a disaster to us”.
The Vice-President termed the plane crash in which Prof Saitoti, his assistant Orwa Ojode, two pilots and two guards were killed as “the most humiliating death”.
He then revealed the pact: “(Mr) Uhuru (Kenyatta) and I owe Prof Saitoti some debt, and that’s the document we signed; the protocol …
“If we live the spirit of that protocol – and colleagues Defence minister Yusuf Hajj and David Musila will remember that – if we build on that protocol, this country will emerge great.”
Mr Kenyatta, who had spoken earlier, said that he was willing to drop his bid for the presidency, like Prof Saitoti had done in 2002, for the greater good of the country.
On his part, Mr Odinga said he knew Prof Saitoti in 1972 at the University of Nairobi and that, from their acquaintance, he could testify that the minister was a “patriot”.
“We had an MoU (a memorandum of understanding) which we agreed on four years ago, to work together. We worked together (as we campaigned for the next General Election).
“I’d tell him, ‘I am going to this place for campaigns, so you go to that other place’,” Mr Odinga said.
The PM revealed that very few people knew about that pact. “There are two or three people who knew about it who are here, but I don’t want to name them,” said Mr Odinga.
“Everything that has been said about Prof Saitoti, his diligence, his respectful nature, his tenacity, is true,” said Mr Odinga.
Both Mr Odinga and Mr Musyoka have their eyes set on succeeding President Kibaki. Prof Saitoti was also in the race.
The PM then dwelt on the speech by Prof Saitoti in 2002 at Kasarani stadium when Kanu and the now defunct NDP merged.
The PM said that Prof Saitoti, then, was in a spot and that is why he said “there come a time when the country is more important than an individual”.
Mr Odinga also said that he caught Mr Musyoka and Prof Saitoti flat-footed when he declared “Kibaki Tosha”, endorsing Mr Kibaki as the best placed leader to succeed President Moi.
“We were in the Liberal Democratic Party. They were furious. They asked me why I had said ‘Kibaki Tosha’ and why I had taken a stand that we’d all not agreed on. But I told them that those words just came to me,” Mr Odinga told the mourners.
He said that Prof Saitoti gave him “immense respect” as Prime Minister and briefed him regularly on security matters, including the threat of terror and proscribed groups like Mombasa Republican Council and Mungiki.

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