Saturday, July 19, 2014

Cord reprimands MP s over referendum

Friday, July 18, 2014 - 00:00 -- BY FELIX OLICK
DISCONTENT: ODM?s Otieno Kajwang?, Ken Obura, Raila Odinga, Shakeel Shabbir and James Nyikal at Orange House yesterday. Photo/ HEZRON NJOROGE
DISCONTENT: ODM?s Otieno Kajwang?, Ken Obura, Raila Odinga, Shakeel Shabbir and James Nyikal at Orange House yesterday. Photo/ HEZRON NJOROGE
CORD leaders have moved to quell growing discontent within the Coalition's ranks - and read the riot act to lawmakers who have openly defied party positions.
Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga chaired a stormy Parliamentary Group meeting of his ODM troops, where party renegades who have opposed calls for a national referendum were given a dressing down.
“The party leader was firm that discipline is paramount. Some of us are not fully with the party and they were told as much,” said an MP who did not want to be named.
There has been a simmering rebellion within Cord over calls for a national dialogue that first erupted when the co-principals changed tune and began pushing for a plebiscite.
After the closed-door meeting that lasted about three hours, former ODM Secretary General Anyang' Nyong'o announced that the PG had endorsed the 13-point resolutions issued on Saba Saba Day, July 7.
“The Parliamentary Group affirms its commitment to the resolutions and vows to speak with one voice in the quest for a national referendum on issues critical to the well-being of our nation and people as we proposed during the Saba Saba Assembly,” Nyong'o announced.
“The ODM PG also resolves to support the quest for a national referendum to stop efforts by the executive to bastardise the constitution with the intention of returning Kenya to the old over-centralised and dictatorial order.”
The meeting was attended by 79 lawmakers. Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero, who is considered among the party renegades, also attended.
Raila's Co-Principal Kalonzo Musyoka, who is also the Wiper Party leader, was set to meet his brigade late yesterday to put their house in order.
Speaking to the Star on the phone, Wiper National Chairman David Musila confirmed that they were to meet late in the evening at an informal PG.
“We shall be brainstorming on many issues. We don't have a specific agenda, because it will be an informal PG,” the Kitui Senator said.
The Star has independently established that Cord is scheduled to have a joint PG next week, before the referendum committee is unveiled.
“We will be having many consultative meetings, so that nobody feels left out. The Secretariat has also been mandated to plan for a retreat,” another MP said.
There has been imminent rebellion over the calls for a referendum, with many senators, governors and MPs saying that they were not consulted over the matter.
Kidero, his Machakos counterpart Alfred Mutua, Kwale Governor Salim Mvurya and ODM Minority Whip Gideon Mung’aro are among leaders that had opposed calls for national dialogue.
But yesterday, a number of MPs from Nyanza defended Kidero, saying governors cannot be expected to politic all the time, especially because they also have to work with the national government.
They said the Nairobi Governor assisted the party in wresting Uhuru Park back from the Jubilee brigade for their Saba Saba rally.
“At some point, I think Waititu had genuinely booked that venue, but Kidero assisted us. Our people also need development and seeing that he heads a cosmopolitan county, he should be understood,” they concluded.
- See more at: http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/article-177912/cord-reprimands-mp-s-over-referendum#sthash.8MbNxids.dpuf

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