The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) on Thursday, October 3, launched a scathing attack on Amani National Congress (ANC) party leader Musalia Mudavadi after his claims regarding the handshake.
While addressing the press, ODM's secretary-general Edwin Sifuna firmly rejected claims that the proverbial handshake between Raila Odinga and President Uhuru Kenyatta was as a result of blackmail from the International community.
"It is in keeping with this pattern that Mudavadi has chosen the relative safety of the USA, where he is on a visit, to make the false allegation that the handshake arose due to pressure from foreign powers who he claims had started canceling visas of Kenyan leaders, in order to force a truce between the feuding sides in the country," he claimed.
He questioned how Mudavadi had come across the details of the events that led to the handshake yet he, on numerous occasions, purported to have only learned of the handshake through the media.
He went ahead to disclose how Mudavadi grew cold feet when Raila was sworn in as the people's president in 2017, despite the fact that being a Nasa co-principal, he was required to be present.
"On that day, Mudavadi and his colleagues are now known to have locked themselves in toilets or some other small safe areas, allegedly waiting for certain Nigerian magic wands to deliver them from self-imposed detention," retorted Sifuna.
The ODM secretary-general went ahead to give a detailed description of how Musalia's disappearance on Raila's swearing-in irredeemably broke the trust between him and the ODM leader, thus denying him a chance of a future partnership.
"Raila and ODM decided on that day to chart a new course without our so-called coalition partners. Musalia does not know what happened from thereon. He was in the dark and he remains in the dark, "Sifuna maintained.
The party also claimed that Musalia and his colleagues succumbed to international pressure not to participate in the swearing-in.
"Visa cancellations have always been with us. Even very recently, the US ambassador spoke of denying visas to corrupt people. How come these other threats of Visa Cancellation have never caused any major political development on the scale of the handshake?" he questioned.
Sifuna concluded his fiery speech by stating that if any foreign powers had threatened visa sanctions, it would have been to stop the swearing of Odinga, and not birthing the handshake.
