Friday, June 8, 2012

Mudavadi, Raila head to Ruto’s turf in vote hunt


Mudavadi, Raila head to Ruto’s turf in vote hunt

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Photo/FILE Prime Minister Raila Odinga (right) and his deputy Musalia Mudavadi.
Photo/FILE Prime Minister Raila Odinga (right) and his deputy Musalia Mudavadi.  
By LUCAS BARASA lbarassa@ke.nationmedia.com AND DAVE OPIYO dopiyo@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Thursday, June 7  2012 at  22:30
Three presidential aspirants will be in the Rift Valley this weekend as they jostle for votes ahead of the next General Election.
Prime Minister Raila Odinga, his deputy Musalia Mudavadi and Mr Peter Kenneth will be in various counties of the vote-rich region seeking to make a mark.
Mr Odinga will be in Eldoret North MP William Ruto’s backyard of South Rift as he fights to regain support in the region.
After attending a meeting on peaceful elections in Mombasa on Friday, Mr Odinga will join the ODM Reloaded team on Saturday for a road show from Maai Mahiu through to Naivasha, Gilgil and Elementaita.
A statement from ODM headquarters said the caravan will start at 9am.
In the afternoon, the PM will address a rally in Konoin constituency in Bomet County.
He will be hosted by nominated councillor Ronald Ng’eny, whose bid for the East African Legislative Assembly was blocked by MPs allied to Mr Ruto’s URP. Read (Fresh rift as G7 chiefs plan how to stop Raila)
Mr Odinga is set to take advantage of the displeasure of the residents over the matter.
On Sunday, Mr Odinga who will be seeking to reach out to South Rift voters after his relationship with them soured following the Mau Forest evictions, will issue land title deeds at Losibil Farm, Kambiya Moto in Rongai constituency.
Later on Sunday, the PM will meet leaders from Baringo and Nakuru counties at Hotel Kunste, before proceeding for a rally at Nakuru’s Afraha Stadium.
Mr Kenneth, the Planning assistant minister, who hopes to vie for the presidency on a Kenya National Congress ticket, will be in Chepalungu in Bomet County before heading to Nakuru.
Mr Mudavadi of the United Democratic Forum will start in Bungoma today before heading to Trans Nzoia, Uasin Gishu and Baringo counties
On Saturday, Mr Mudavadi will attend the burial of the father of former Lugari MP Enock Kibunguchy at Turbo and afterwards address rallies along the Eldoret-Kitale road on the way to Kitale.
On Sunday, Mr Mudavadi will be in Ziwa, Chepkoilel Campus, Iten, Tambach, Karbarnet and Mogotio.
Meanwhile, Mr Mudavadi has once again dismissed claims that he was President Kibaki’s project in the succession race.
However, he said his party was ready to form alliances with others in its bid for power.
Ironically, Mr Mudavadi was speaking moments after he had represented the Head of State at a function at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre in Nairobi.
“There are people claiming that I am President Kibaki’s project. I am not. I have told them to stop speculating. I’m a Kenyan project. Ultimately the Kenyan voter will make the decision,” he said in response to questions he fielded from journalists covering the World Accreditation Day.
Authors of allegations

Those behind the allegations, he said, were worried about his rising popularity.
The Sabatia MP said that the authors of the allegations had even dragged former President Daniel arap Moi into the plot.
“Why are they worried? They said I am someone who cannot move or make decisions. They also tried to bring in the former president and all sorts of things,” he said.
The decision by Mr Mudavadi to quit his former party and join the State House race, ruffled feathers in ODM with some claiming that he was being driven by external forces.
This has been reinforced by an emerging alliance between Mr Mudavadi and Mr Uhuru Kenyatta of The National Alliance and Mr Ruto of United Republican Party, all fierce rivals of Mr Odinga.
And recent events, including being given the honour to welcome President Kibaki to address the country during last Friday’s Madaraka Day celebrations, has added to speculation that he was being prepared for the top seat.
Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka and Mr Odinga did not attend the celebrations because they were out of the country on official duty.
On Thursday, Mr Mudavadi urged the public not to read politics in his opportunity to represent the President, who had been scheduled to grace the occasion.
“It is quite normal for the President or Prime Minister to assign the DPM or a minister a role when he is tied up with other commitments,” he said.
President was held up
The President was held up at a Cabinet meeting and could not attend the event.
Mr Mudavadi has held meetings with Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto in a bid to work out an alliance in the lead up to the elections to defeat Mr Odinga.
But Mr Odinga has laughed off of the alliance, likening it to the proverbial rats that tried to bell the cat.
“They are like those rats who after making a nice bell started arguing who would tie it around the cat’s neck. TNA said ‘no I can’t’, URP said ‘no I can’t’ and UDF said ‘no’ as well. So, in the end nobody was able to bell the cat and that cat is called ODM,” said Mr Odinga.
Mr Mudavadi said UDF will work with other parties, which were driven by common ideals.
But his efforts to work with Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto appear to have rattled Justice Minister Eugene Wamalwa, who said at the weekend that he would not work with the G7 Alliance if Mr Mudavadi was being brought on board with the single aim of defeating Mr Odinga.
Mr Mudavadi said his relationship with members of the G7 Alliance was not intended to evict anyone.
“I am not evicting anybody from anywhere. People should relax,” the DPM said.
“I respect Wamalwa… everyone has a right to say what he or she wants, but that does not mean that we cannot talk. We are both in government…we will continue talking.”

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