L-R: Jubilee coalition members William Ruto(URP), DPM Musalia Mudavadi(UDF) and DPM Uhuru Kenyatta(TNA) in Malava town on Saturday. Photo/ Samuel Simiti
Eldoret North MP William Ruto moved to forestall a fallout within the Jubilee Coalition when he declared that he will abstain from voting for either UDF leader Musalia Mudavadi or TNA leader Uhuru Kenyatta.
Ruto reached the decision after both presidential aspirants said he could swing the vote either side using his 1,500 URP delegates. "Ruto will go public today to say that he will not vote for either and will also not influence his URP delegates to vote for one of the two," said a source.
Jubilee is due to hold its nomination at Kasarani Sports Centre ahead of the March 4 general election . Ruto, Uhuru and Mudavadi met yesterday for close to four hours in an attempt to deal with the issues affecting their union.
In the meeting held at Uhuru's home, and where they were joined by their aides, the three are said to have agreed to focus on keeping the coalition intact regardless of the outcome of the Tuesday vote.
Mudavadi's side was by last evening still drawing up the list of delegates to participate in the exercise with those in the know claiming that UDF, which has been asking for a boardroom deal, has 1,000 delegates and needs time to get 500 more.
A joint URP, UDF and TNA meeting last evening agreed to reschedule the convention to tomorrow and instead hold a rally at Kitui Municipal Stadium to be hosted by Water minister Charity Ngilu.
The technical team that has been tasked with coming up with the nomination rules held a meeting with the officials of the three parties in the afternoon.
During the meeting, URP and TNA are said to have expressed disappointment at UDF's request for postponement yet some delegates had already arrived in Nairobi for the Monday nomination convention.
The meeting was attended by Abdikadir Mohammed, Dan Ameyo and Hassan Osman of UDF, Johnson Sakaja, Jasper Mbiuki and Onyango Oloo of TNA and Aden Duale, Kipchumba Murkomen and Nixon Korir of URP.
The decision to postpone was also reached at to allow the three principals to continue with consultations and help deal with the deadlock created by the scheduled nomination exercise.
For two weeks now, UDF and TNA hardliners have differed over the mode to be used for nominating the coalition's presidential candidate. This impasse continued into last evening as differences continued to manifest.
This has caused anxiety in the alliance which is to use the Tuesday convention to choose who between Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi will be the flag-bearer.
The Jubilee team called off a rally that was scheduled to take place in Murang'a yesterday in order to deal with “some house-keeping matters.”
While the three parties signed an agreement on December 4 indicating that there would be a presidential nomination exercise within 14 days, some of Mudavadi's supporters have been urging for consensus instead of the primaries.
On Saturday during a joint rally in Malava, MPs allied to Mudavadi drummed up support for the DPM urging Uhuru to support him and even asked the two to strike a boardroom deal.
“The two of you should go into a room even if it is as far as Sagana, talk and decide who will lead us. Then you can come and tell us who will be the one (flag-bearer) and I can assure you we will all support you and take the route you tell us,” Ikolomani MP Boni Khalwale told the two.
Vihiga MP Yusuf Chanzu said UDF is considering proposing amendments to the coalition agreement including the clauses on how the partners can part ways.
“As UDF we will consult our legal experts with the view of re-looking at the coalition document we entered with our TNA and URP partners. UDF believes that consensus should be the best approach in arriving at the presidential candidate. Uhuru, Ruto and Mudavadi must emulate what Cord has done. I believe by the end of the week we will have agreed as partners,” said Chanzu.
But speaking to the Star, MPs allied to Uhuru maintained that the only way out was for the coalition to hold the delegates convention to select the candidate.
Garsen MP Danson Mungatana who recently joined the TNA camp said “let us just vote” when asked what options remained for the alliance.
Nithi MP Kareke Mbiuki, a close ally of Uhuru, said that the parties should respect the agreement signed adding that Uhuru and Mudavadi would have to explain the rationale of their boardroom deal if it happens.
“If they go for consensus, then they will have to come to us and explain why. Then it will be up to we as their supporters to respond accordingly,” Mbiuki, who has been opposed to consensus, said.
It also emerged that UDF is facing a legal dilemma if Mudavadi opts out as the coalition agreement requires that the aggrieved party serves a three-month notice before leaving the alliance.
Sources within Uhuru's TNA told the Star that, two weeks ago, they had to compel their leader to back-track on a boardroom deal they had reached with Mudavadi and Ruto which UDF appears to be holding to.
“The two had promised Mudavadi that he would be the coalition's flag-bearer but we told Uhuru that this was not his decision to make. He has to go through the necessary party structures and procedures. Only TNA and its supporters can make such as decision,” a top official of the party, who sought anonymity, said.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment