Kalonzo isolated as G7 hatches poll plan

By JUMA KWAYERA

Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka has become a bystander in the G7 political plot.

Allies of Eldoret North MP William Ruto and Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta tell of an elaborate scheme sealed with a memorandum of understanding that isolates Kalonzo from the the G7 Alliance in the countdown to the General Election.

Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka has been reduced to a cheer leader in the G7 Alliance. PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD]

Matters are not made any easier for the VP following the recent Gema meeting at the Limuru Conference Centre, which endorsed Uhuru as the flag-bearer for Mt Kenya.

Uhuru accepted the endorsement with the promise to announce in a month the party he would use to vie for president. The DPM is Kanu chairman.

Within the G7 outfit, it comes as no surprise that the Uhuru and Ruto, who are facing trial for crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court, have finally succeeded in sidelining Kalonzo, who must now look for new alliances to pitch for president.

According the deal, the Kelenjin votes would be ‘kept in a bunker’ – in Rift Valley – to be turned over to Uhuru in the event of need to secure an outright majority in the House.

Dismissed talk

The VP’s allies interviewed described as speculation talks of Uhuru, who has a lot of influence on the President, had quietly offloaded their party leader.

Nominated MP Mohammed Affey, while denying there is anything substantive between the VP and the Prime Minister, says their party is open to mutually beneficial arrangement.

"Nothing stops us from seeking alliances with other like-minded parties or people, including the Prime Minister. For the time being, there is nothing on the table. But we have not closed the door to any individual or party," Affey, a longstanding ally of the VP, says.

As the political trends begin to take a definite shape, the VP emerges as a bystander in a rapidly evolving political environment. The public that has in the past been treated to sometimes-comical incidents between the two would be eager to know how Raila would react to suggestions to accommodate Kalonzo.

Last weekend, Kalonzo sought to quash talk he was seeking an arrangement with the PM following current disagreement in PM’s ODM party over presidential nomination rules.

The VP told the gathering at Kaningo village in Kitui County’s Tseikuru District during the first memorial service for former Kitui North MP Philip Mutisya Manandu, shot dead by an administration policeman 27 years ago.

He said: "Let it be clear Raila is my competitor. I am praying that I will beat him at the polls. I am sure he is also praying to beat me."

More significantly, it is the conciliatory approach his allies have adopted toward the PM, who all political players determined to prevent from ascending to power.

The two are the strangest of bedfellows, whose sour relationship that at times explodes into unsavoury verbal confrontation.

Watermelon tag

That the PM holds the VP in contempt is not a secret, what with Raila repeatedly deriding the latter as opportunistic, attributes that earned the Mwingi North MP the moniker watermelon during the 2010 campaign for the new Constitution.

Last Monday Cabinet reshuffle, in which Eugene Wamalwa landed a key ministerial position, was the culmination of behind-the-scenes manoeuvring that elbowed Kalonzo out of G7 and in the process, triggered the hitherto unrepentant VP to tone down his acerbic rhetoric against the PM.

Joint Parliamentary Chief Whip Johnston Muthama sought to play down talk of Kalonzo having been totally isolated and President Kibaki’s possible hand in hastening his discharge from G7.

"Kibaki cannot make appointments to isolate the VP. If Uhuru Kenyatta has his own strategy let him go ahead and use it. Let people not put a wedge between the VP and PM. When they share a cup tea does not mean they are warming up to each other. Kalonzo is free to share with Raila," says Muthama.

The Kangundo MP says the Wiper Democratic Movement does not take offence at the Cabinet reshuffle that saw the party secretary general Mutula Kilonzo moved to Education, paving the way to Wamalwa.

A few months ago, a political arrangement of any sort would have looked unlikely, but the isolation of the Vice-President makes him politically vulnerable, even in his Ukambani backyard.

Political overtures

The Prime Minister’s office was non-committal on the talk of the two warming up to each other, with his spokesperson Dennis Onyango saying: "I don’t know" about the VP sending overtures to the PM.

A Kalonzo ally who spoke to The Standard On Sunday in confidence says the VP is incensed following revelations that Uhuru had settled on his line-up and Wamalwa will be his running mate, while Ruto will play spoiler in Rift Valley on the understanding he would be Leader of Majority Party in Parliament.

The ‘spoilt votes’ in Rift Valley are deliberate move to keep the region’s votes in a ‘bunker’ for Uhuru. The votes would be released from the vault in a possible run-off to the benefit of G7 Alliance as a bargaining chip for trade-off for Leader of Majority Party in Parliament; itself is a powerful position in the new Constitution.