Uhuru Kenyatta now says Musalia Mudavadi will have to beat him at a delegates nomination process for him to give up his presidential ambitions. Photo/ TEAMUHURU
NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 18 – Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta is now blaming ‘dark forces’ for arm-twisting him to sign a deal which would have seen him give up his presidential bid for Musalia Mudavadi.
Kenyatta spoke of threats and intimidation from unnamed ‘powerful persons’ who got him to sign a deal to cede his presidential ambitions to Mudavadi for the sake of the country.
He told delegates at the Multimedia University that some of the ‘dark forces’ even warned him against vying for the top job, on grounds that another Kikuyu cannot be elected after President Kibaki.
Some, he said, even told him the international community would withhold aid if he became Kenya’s fourth President with Eldoret North MP William Ruto of the United Republican Party (URP) as his deputy.
“You saw us showcase our unity at the Afraha in Nakuru but thereafter a devil who does not know where we started, came saying that if we continued in our quest Kenya would not get foreign aid; we will not sell our tea abroad, that we will cause war in Kenya. So I decided that instead of involving Ruto in it ( I would make) the decision myself because I did not know what he would tell his people,” Kenyatta said adding that he had been ready to give up his bid for the sake of the nation.
Kenyatta was on Tuesday afternoon forced to pull out of the deal after delegates of The National Alliance (TNA) passed a resolution rejecting the deal and insisted that delegates be used to vote for the candidate.
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“I will only listen to your decision and nothing else. My message to Musalia is that if delegates pick him, I will not seek any position,” added Kenyatta in a seemingly repentant mood. He also disclosed having had a difficult time in the last two weeks.
The delegates led by TNA Secretary General Onyango Oloo declared that the deal was not binding to the party as it had not been sanctioned by any party organ.
“We have called you here to tell you that there exists no deal that has legal capacity to bind the party or anybody else that may have been obtained through blackmail, coercion and a process of duress which we must reject,” said Oloo.
The delegate’s preferred that the presidential candidate for the Jubilee Coalition be chosen through a vote and not through Kenyatta’s own magnanimous decision to step down.
Garsen MP Danson Mungatana claimed Kenyatta was under duress when he signed the agreement to step down for Mudavadi and that it will only be legitimised by the delegates as the biggest decision making organ of the party.
“If Mudavadi wants to be in the Jubilee Coalition and run for the presidency, he has to accept nomination by delegates. He left ODM seeking democracy and in TNA he will get nothing for free,” Mungatana opined.
Kenyatta has urged Mudavadi to gather courage and face him at the delegate’s conference to pick jubilee’s flag bearer, unlike the delegates who had demanded that he sever links with Mudavadi.
Kenyatta and Ruto unveiled their deal in Nakuru nearly three weeks ago and later incorporated Mudavadi of the United Democratic Forum (UDF) at the last minute on December 4, just hours to the deadline of signing pre-election coalition deals.
Under the TNA/ URP/ UDF coalition agreement, Kenyatta and Mudavadi are to fight for the presidency while Ruto will be the deputy president.
Kenyatta has urged Mudavadi to gather courage and face him at the delegate’s conference to pick jubilee’s flag bearer, unlike the delegates who had demanded that he sever links with Mudavadi.
The DPM met MPs allied to TNA on Monday night where they resolved to stick with the use of delegates in the nomination of the presidential candidate for the Jubilee coalition.
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