Raila Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement has coined a punitive way to punish NASA co-principals, Moses Wetangula (Ford Kenya) and Musalia Mudavadi (Amani National Congress) for allegedly betraying them.
ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna, on Wednesday, October 30, during an interview with Tony Gachoka on KTN's Pointblank, shed light on the party's plan to pull out of NASA after Mudavadi and Wetangula fielded competitors in Kibra by-election.
According to Sifuna, their partners had undermined the spirit of the alliance by fielding Eliud Owalo (ANC) and Khamisi Butichi (Ford-Kenya). This new declaration signals the decline of NASA which has been hanging on its brim since the infamous 2018 Raila Odinga swearing-in ceremony at Uhuru Park.
"Our affiliate partners are out to use the Kibra by-election to formalise their divorce from NASA. Out of this by-election, we are going to count our friends and our enemies. New alliances will be formed."
"We are counting our friends like Maina Kamanda (Jubilee), Cleophas Malala and Geoffrey Osotsi (both of ANC) in this election. This same team will spearhead the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report and proceed to the 2022 elections," Sifuna declared.
Kalonzo Musyoka, despite playing coy with the looming collapse of NASA, avoiding to publicly declare his stance, raised eyebrows when his Wiper party declared support for Wetangula's candidate.
Sifuna further ranted over how ODM had shouldered the burden of carrying the other affiliate parties over a long time.
"We have known these people as parasites and leeches, which we have carried on our back," Sifuna lashed out as he accused Mudavadi of planning to form a coalition with Deputy President William Ruto, to campaign against the BBI.
According to a report by The Standard, Ford-Kenya Secretary-General Eseli Simiyu dismissed Sifuna's assertions, pointing fingers at ODM.
"ODM is the problem in the coalition. But I understand where they are coming from. They want to cut links with the other partners so that they don’t demand their share of the political parties funding,"
"When they fielded a candidate in Embakasi, why didn’t the other partners threaten to leave? They should be reminded that they don’t have powers or the capacity to dissolve Nasa. The coalition instruments are very clear. They can only walkout," Simiyu argued.
ANC spokesperson Barrack Muluka also lashed back at Sifuna, claiming that ODM was childish to cry foul over the betrayal.
"If they want to go let them go. We are tired of their childishness. There are clear steps within our agreement that stipulate over how a party can pull out. Odinga is a schemer and he usually plays mind games with everyone. Today he will tell anyone to declare an interest in a seat, the next time he will hang them out to dry. On the BBI, no one knows the contents of the BBI. Therefore it is so ironical when they tell us not to attack what we don't know yet they at the same time urge us to support what we don't know," Muluka ranted while speaking with Kenyans.co.ke on phone.
