Uhuru, Musalia in stalemate

By Geoffrey Mosoku and Rawlings Otieno

NAIROBI; KENYA: Jubilee alliance leaders worked overtime to forestall a split following failure to resolve a standoff between Deputy Prime Ministers Uhuru Kenyatta and Musalia Mudavadi.

One Member of Parliament went on record to confirm that indeed apart from the much-talked about disagreement on the mode of nomination to be adopted, Mudavadi is in fact demanding that Uhuru steps aside for him in fulfillment of a promise Musalia says he was given before signing a pre-election agreement on December 4.

This is the day that United Republican Party leader William Ruto and Uhuru went to Mudavadi’s house with a surprise deal on hand whose details haven’t come out clearly, and which either way got the United Democratic Forum leader into Jubilee.

Earlier on that day, Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka and Trade minister Moses Wetangula, and for a brief moment, Water minister Charity Ngilu shook the political arena by teaming up with Prime Minister Raila Odinga to launch Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord).

Yesterday, Mudavadi had insisted that unless an announcement was made in public that the process of nominating the Jubilee candidate would be done through consensus, he would not be with them in Kitui.

“On December 4, Uhuru came to Riverside (Mudavadi’s home) and pleaded with him to join Jubilee with the promise he would step down for him. That’s simply what our position remains,” a UDF MP revealed on condition this was off the record

Shadow wars

Signs the shadow wars in the alliance could be getting a fresh battlefront became evident when at a rally yesterday, Ruto declared the race for the presidential ticket was not closed and Ngilu too was welcome to fight for it. “We shall vote freely and may the best candidate win. But if you lose will that mark the end of the world for the loser?’’ asked Uhuru in the rally, a question which could be interpreted to have been directed at Mudavadi.

Yesterday, Mudavadi who having lost the battle to force the picking of presidential candidate through consensus the previous day, succeeded in triggering postponement of the National Delegates Conference by Uhuru’s team, which was scheduled for today after being moved from Monday.

Uhuru’s team was set for the NDC even as Mudavadi’s side wavered.

It was here that the delegates were expected to vote for their preferred candidate, but now that will have to wait for another day, because the leaders have now gone back to the drawing board on how to salvage the situation.

Boycotted rally

It was an eventful day charactaterised by meetings between the contesting groups, and signs the tensions in Jubilee could be higher than the public is being let to know, emerged when Mudavadi boycotted yesterday’s rally in Kitui. It was hosted by Ngilu, and attended by Ruto and Uhuru.

Uhuru, who heads The National Alliance, however, flew back after only a few hours at the Kitui rally, which followed one slated earlier set for Murang’a on Sunday but cancelled at the last minute for similar reasons, to meet his team at Panafric Hotel, Nairobi. 

Efforts to resolve the Uhuru-Mudavadi impasse began early in the morning when the UDF, TNA and URP leaders met over breakfast at the Eldoret North MP’s house in Karen.

It was a follow up meeting to another five-hour meeting held by the three leaders at Uhuru’s house along Dennis Pritt Road on Sunday evening.

Whereas Uhuru wants the candidate picked by the over 4,500 delegates the three key parties in the alliance wanted to assemble, with each giving 1,500, Mudavadi sought consensus, arguing that NDC nomination would leave the alliance divided and weaker.

Mudavadi also argued that some of the parties have never had grassroots elections and wondered how the delegates were picked. His party also argued that for this reason alone, the decision taken at the NDC would be vulnerable if challenged in court. 

Sources within URP on the other hand revealed Ruto wanted the decision made fast, with preference for Uhuru, because of the argument that it would take him back to square one if a situation arises where he will have to go back to his Rift Valley support-base to seek support for a new presidential candidate.

“Ruto believes after fighting so hard to have Uhuru accepted by the Kalenjin community and other Rift communities, starting off a new campaign to sell Mudavadi would be trickier and will divert the energies of the alliance from the national campaigns against Raila,’’ said a confidant of the URP leader.

The NDC called and publicised by TNA officials was to be held at Kasarani today but was postponed again after the parties failed to agree on the way forward. To show unanimity on the decision, chairmen of all the parties signed a joint statement on the postponement. “The Jubilee Coalition has by mutual agreement decided to postpone the Delegates Conference earlier slated for Tuesday, December 18, 2012, so as to allow more time for the parties to agree on a method by which to pick the Presidential flag-bearer,” read the statement.

The three chairmen — Johnson Sakaja (TNA), — Francis ole Kaparo (URP) and Hassan Osman (UDF) — signed the statement.

Instead of travelling to Kitui, Mudavadi went for consultations with UDF Political Council (UPC), which brings together MPs, politicians and senior party officials. “Yes, the big three met, held progressive consultations and agreed against holding a potentially divisive primary,” said UDF’s Kibisu Kabatesi.

He was responding to claims the talks had failed and that Mudavadi had decided to opt out of the alliance and that is why he did not travel to Kitui.

The two-hour meeting yesterday was followed by another convened by TNA MPs at a hotel in Westlands where it was agreed they push for a delegates meeting at Kasarani this week.

Only seven MPs, all on Uhuru’s side, attended the meeting and announced they would be joining their colleagues at a media briefing that was to be held at Panafric Hotel later in the evening.

Consensus option

Those in attendance were Jamleck Kamau (Kigumo), Cecilly Mbarire (Runyenjes), Rachel Shebesh (nominated), Mithika Linturi (Igembe South), William Kabogo (Juja) and Lewis Nguyai (Kikuyu).

Later in the afternoon, the same group returned with a few more TNA MPs and held another meeting with UDF MPs led by Housing minister Soita Shitanda.

“We are still holding onto our position that it must be a delegates meeting, while they (UDF) are also standing firm on the consensus option,” said Linturi after emerging from the meeting.

He said should the worst happen, then there was a likelihood of the two parties abandoning the short-lived marriage. The Jubilee joint parliamnentary group meeting is set for today to try and resolve the deadlock.