A delay in giving TNA official Lydia Mathia a state job lost The National Alliance an opportunity to forestall a case which seeks to nullify the nomination of Naisula Lesuuda to the senate.
As the case played itself out in the law courts, there were intense political intrigues going on behind the scenes to try and foil the case.
On Monday and Tuesday, operatives in the Office of the President and State House went into a panic after TNA education secretary Lydia Mathia who has sued the party over the manner of Lessuda's nomination refused to pick their calls.
It emerged that Mathia had been offered a job in the government to persuade her to drp her case. Mathia was offered an opportunity to work under Devolution SecretaryAnn Waiguru.
However, on Tuesday evening Mathia decided to go ahead with the case as her terms for dropping it had not been met and even though she was expected to sign a contract to work in the Devolution ministry.
Sources familiar with the intrigues said Mathia had given her conditions for dropping the case in May and was even scheduled to meet the President at State House last week over the matter.
“She grew impatient of attending the endless meetings with little result. It beats logic that they now say her letter is ready and yet it has not been ready for months,” said the source.
Last week, she is said to have met Secretary to the Cabinet Francis Kimemia through one of the country's youngest diplomats but Mathia was reportedly unhappy with the outcome.
There are also claims that there are officials of TNA who are also eying the same job and have discourage Mathia from making a last minute deal with the State.
Those who want Mathia to drop the Lessuda case say that whatever the outcome, it would have an impact on the President politically as he would be seen not to be in control of his party.
They also argue the case created a bad image of the President’s party which has been embroiled in internal leadership wrangles as some officials tried to wrestle chairman Johnson Sakaja out of the party.
Sakaja has since taken control of the party with the help of other elected leaders who are now working on a restructuring programme.
Mathia, who was on the TNA’s list of those to be considered for nomination, went to court arguing that the decision to side-step her and pick Lesuuda is unfair and should be reversed.
According to the TNA list for senate nominees submitted to the IEBC on January 29, Mathia was ranked at position three while Lesuuda was at five.
Mathia argues that because the party should follow order of priority, it could not gazette Lesuuda as a member of the Senate unless the party was allocated five positions.
Through lawyer Kibe Mungai, Mathia also argues that IEBC has no power under the constitution to alter a party list or vary the order of priority.
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