Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Suspicion bogs down G7 team


Suspicion bogs down G7 team

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By Francis Ngige and Athman Amran
There is a groundswell of suspicion building up underneath the feet of G7 Alliance leaders and Justice Minister Eugene Wamalwa’s wavering is just the tip of an iceberg.
Founded on the common denominator, which is stopping Prime Minister Raila Odinga from the presidency, the alliance is being slowed down by the fact that its key leaders now appear to be more keen individual vehicles for the race to State House.
Also casting a long shadow on the alliance is the fact Vice- President Kalonzo Musyoka, who curiously met Wamalwa yesterday and ensured it was broadcast, seems to have one foot out after complaining he was being accused of shedding “crocodile tears” over the travails of The Hague suspects in G7.
But it appears the winds of suspicions under which the alliance is swaying were set off by Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi’s exit from Orange Democratic Movement and the speed with which some G7 Alliance appeared to embrace him.
Sources in the alliance reveal this is what upset the balance in the way the G7 Alliance members relate to each other, to the extent that Wamalwa openly began talking against what he called “agents of impunity”.
He also vowed he would not align himself to a group whose only interest appears to be stopping Raila, against the backdrop of speculation he is secretly negotiating a pact with the PM. He seemed to reinforce this perception when it was revealed yesterday that he would be making a ‘major statement’ in Busia this weekend.  
But Rift Valley MPs on the other hand, having watched the way Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta launched his party, with so much energy and pumping millions, only for Eldoret MP William Ruto to be eclipsed by Wamalwa at the function, are convinced the Saboti MP is being set up for a supportive role in the Uhuru line-up.
Ruto, however, insists the alliance is united in vision and strategy, but still he has lately concentrated his energies on his United Republican Party, just as much as Uhuru is pursuing his The National Alliance path.
Both leaders, however, have separately sought a working relationship with Mudavadi, with Ruto directly meeting him with a host of MPs from both sides. Uhuru to whom Musalia was a running mate in 2007, sent emissaries to him last weekend.
After Uhuru’s pompous launch of TNA Ruto’s allies quietly grumbled their man had been sidelined. But to downplay the friction an explanation was given that since Uhuru never attended Ruto’s launch of URP, he too, was not expected, and that he just ‘passed by’.
Wamalwa and his allies, it now emerges, had secret talks with Uhuru at the Gatundu South MP’s Nairobi residence, to celebrate the TNA launch, which Ruto attended. 
But subsequent developments gave the Saboti MP the impression he may have been taken for a ride. Sources said Wamalwa was angered by reports that Uhuru played a hand in organising a meeting between Mudavadi and Kikuyu elders immediately after the launch.
Kept away
Last week, the Kikuyu elders attended a Mudavadi rally at Muliro Gardens in Kakamega in which Uhuru’s allies gave a flattering remark about the Sabatia MP.
Yesterday, the meeting between Kalonzo and the Justice minister sent tongues wagging about what the two – whose common bond appears to be mutual feeling of ‘mistreatment’ in the alliance – are up to. 
It followed another between Mudavadi and Ruto in which 40 MPs attended to plot how to contain Raila over the East African Legislative Assembly. This is the second meeting between Kalonzo and Wamalwa in the last three months.
At the time Uhuru and Ruto were reported to have sidelined the VP, it was Eugene who sought out Kalonzo in an attempt to forestall his exit. 
Kalonzo has kept away from the alliance’s joint meetings since Uhuru and Ruto gave him a cold shoulder.
At the weekend Wamalwa publicly stated his discomfort in the alliance, citing the obsession with stopping Raila from ascending to the presidency as plunk of the G7 campaigns.
However, the Saboti MP is said to be uncomfortable with the attention Mudavadi seems to be getting within the G7 that threatens to eclipse him as the political king of Western Province.
Outspoken Nithi MP Kareke Mbiuki said it was hypocritical for Wamalwa to threaten to walk away from the G7 now that Mudavadi was being considered a frontrunner in Western.
He said Wamalwa had already shown signs of decamping from the group “after being overlooked by other leaders”.
Mbiuki, a close ally of Uhuru, admitted trouble was brewing in the G7 due to competing interests.
Ndaragwa MP Jeremiah Kioni, who has been among those identified with Mudavadi’s UDF, said the G7 grouping appeared just on paper as some of its key leaders were taking their own political directions.
“Have you ever heard Uhuru talk about the group? There is nothing like that,” said Kioni. Kalonzo and Wamalwa met over lunch at the Green House Japanese Restaurant along Ngong Road. They met after Kalonzo had attended the Wiper Democratic Movement (WDM) National Executive Council meeting and hardly two days after Wamalwa threatened to quit the G-7 Alliance.
Reading too much
Defence Assistant minister David Musila, who is the WDM vice- chairman, accompanied the VP while Wamalwa was with nominated MP Musikari Kombo. The choice of the person to accompany them was almost revealing, given that they are the most trusted political allies, and also by age, their ‘elders’.  The two leaders, however, denied any coalition was in the making. They claimed Wamalwa was only briefing Kalonzo, in his capacity as leader of Government Business in Parliament, on the progress in passing Bills.
But Ruto said any talk of new political realignment was reading too much into the lunch meeting. “Kalonzo and Eugene having lunch is no news to write home about. We continuously have lunch with everybody and it has not been a big deal,” Ruto told The Standard.
“Eugene and Kalonzo are members of the G7. Our desire is to bring the people of Kenya together,” Ruto said.  “Those thinking that because so-and-so had lunch with so-and-so that would amount to anything would be shocked. They are trying to fish in the desert,” said Ruto, who is facing crimes against humanity charges with Uhuru at The Hague.
Wamalwa denied there was a rift between him and Ruto or Uhuru, but added he was opposed to forces of impunity. “We will go up to the ballot but using which party? It is too early to discuss about parties. I am not partyless,” he insisted.
He spoke on a day Ikolomani MP Boni Khalwale told him to keep off New Ford-Kenya affairs, ironically the party on which ticket Wamalwa has said he will run for president. Curiously, Wamalwa said if Kenyans would need him to work (form alliance) with anyone, he would not close the door on them.
Dujis MP Aden Duale and Mosop MP David Koech said Wamalwa had a right to consult other leaders within and outside the G7 Alliance.



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