Kalonzo disowns alleged MoU with Kibaki team

By Martin Mutua and Alex Ndegwa

NAIROBI, KENYA: Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka finally came out to quell perception he is quietly critical of his boss after claims by a long-time ally once again put his relationship with President Kibaki in the spotlight.

The VP denied the claims by Kangundo MP Johnstone Muthama that Kibaki turned his back on a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in 2008 between the Party of National Unity (PNU) and Kalonzo’s Wiper (then ODM-Kenya) that would have seen the Head of State support his deputy as his successor, when he retires next year.

Kalonzo said on Wednesday that Kibaki owes him no political debt after a week in which Muthama openly said the VP has no choice, but to negotiate a pre-election pact with Prime Minister Raila Odinga and his ODM party if he wants to be in Government next year.

It is not the first time the VP has been put at odds with State House. In March last year, First Lady Lucy Kibaki tore into Kalonzo after leaked cables from the US Embassy allegedly quoted the VP as saying Kibaki slept on the job due to drugs administered on him, and that Lucy only moved into State House after learning that night meetings were taking place there.

She termed the allegations “barefaced falsehoods” that had been “conceived in bad faith”.

Said Lucy at the time: “In any case, it is clearly unkind and contrary to African, indeed human values, to discuss other people’s health and to appear to derive fiendish delight from their poor health,” she said. 

The VP later denied the claims in the US cables as the work of a creative mind, adding that their publication was meant to drive a wedge between him and the First Family.

This time around, it was Muthama, a man many perceive to be his staunchest ally, who lit the fuse on the intense political competition sparked by the rift within the so-called G7 Alliance, when he painted Kibaki, current, and former PNU members and allies as being untrustworthy. 

But on Wednesday Kalonzo insisted that PNU and ODM-Kenya, now re-named Wiper Democratic Movement, formed a coalition in January 2008 “in order to stabilise the country before the Grand Coalition was subsequently established”.

Power sharing talks

He denied that the agreement was that Kibaki back his State House bid in the March 4 General Election.

“The Framework Coalition Document as signed by the negotiating teams did not contain any preconditions. Therefore, the President does not owe me any political debt whatsoever,” the VP said in a statement on Wednesday.

Muthama has sensationally claimed he was privy to the deal, which he said saw Kalonzo named Vice-President to shore up President Kibaki’s administration, then besieged by the opposition ODM after the disputed 2007 presidential vote, as Kenya burnt.

The Kangundo MP alleges he was among four MPs representing PNU and ODM-Kenya who negotiated the memorandum of understanding.

He named Cabinet minister Amos Kimunya and the late John Michuki, as PNU negotiators. And Defence Assistant minister David Musila and himself represented ODM-Kenya in the power sharing talks in which Kalonzo allegedly secured PNU’s support to succeed President Kibaki.

“But four years down the line, there are no signs of fulfilling this and instead the so-called Kibaki team has of late showed no regard for the VP,” he added.

Muthama said betrayal of the MoU by the people in the Kibaki administration whom they assisted to form the Government had now forced him to seek partnership with Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

“Yes, I am saying this without any fear for my life nor my job because we cannot continue like this when some people think they are more clever and important to cheat others’” he added.

G7 Alliance

Kalonzo took exception to what he termed as “disturbing Press reports” about the interview with Muthama.

“I now clarify that I have enjoyed a very warm working and political relationship with His Excellency, the President. Indeed, I have understudied President Kibaki’s leadership style,” he said. He added that he is confident that Kibaki has prepared him adequately for the leadership of the country should Kenyans grant him their mandate in the coming elections.

Kalonzo appears to have been sidelined by Eldoret North MP William Ruto and Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta in the ongoing push for a pre-election deal in the G7 Alliance. The alliance also includes Justice Minister Eugene Wamalwa, and the VP.

The development adds a twist considering Kalonzo himself had reportedly spoken about the ‘deal’ in 2008 if private discussions detailed in leaked US diplomatic cables are to be believed.

Kalonzo reportedly told then US Ambassador Michael Ranneberger that President Kibaki and Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta had agreed to support his candidature for the Presidency in the General Election, and then planned for this year.

“Musyoka confided, as is generally believed, that as a quid pro quo for his accepting the Vice-Presidency, Kibaki and Uhuru Kenyatta agreed to support Kalonzo as candidate for the president in 2012,” Ranneberger reportedly wrote.

This was the envoy’s reported recollection of his one and a half-hour discussion with Kalonzo during a meeting on January 20, 2008, at the height of post-election violence over the disputed results of the December 2007 presidential ballot. 

The VP then dismissed the conversations depicted in the cables leaked by whistle blower website, Wikileaks, as inaccurate.

The said deal was in exchange for the ODM-Kenya leader’s acceptance of the VP’s post, and to take his party into a coalition with PNU.

Kalonzo had been appointed VP to stabilise President Kibaki’s Government, which was facing a crisis of legitimacy after Raila Odinga of ODM claimed victory.

leave a legacy

The VP reportedly made the disclosure at the prompting of Ranneberger, who told Kalonzo the US, expected him to use his leverage in Government to support a political solution or he would “destroy his political future”.

PNU has since struck a pre-election agreement to support Uhuru’s presidential bid on The National Alliance party ticket.

Uhuru and United Republican Party’s William Ruto are reportedly considering running on a joint ticket that has no place for Kalonzo, who had banked on their support under the informal G7 Alliance.

The former US envoy observed in his cables to Washington that his meetings with President Kibaki gave the impression he thought bringing together the Kikuyu and Kalenjin into an alliance for the next elections (then expected to be this December) would shape his legacy.

“While Kibaki probably has some sense of wanting to leave a legacy, he likely sees having restored peace to the country as one of his major contributions,” Ranneberger reported.

“He may also see his legacy as helping to work out an accommodation between his Kikuyu ethnic group (and their natural political allies, the Embu and Meru and their rivals in the last election, the Kalenjins), which would constitute a majority alliance for the 2012 General Election,” said the US envoy.