Wiper Democratic Movement Party Leader Kalonzo Musyoka on Monday, March 14, threw a spanner in the works on the agreement signed between him and ODM Leader Raila Odinga to form the Azimio coalition.
Speaking in his Tseikuru home, Kitui County, Kalonzo poked holes in the transparency of the process, stating that most of the parties were not aware of what they signed.
He revealed that during the meeting at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC), parties were hurriedly presented with two documents to sign.
"There was nothing there, If I asked all those party secretaries-general what they affixed their signatures to, nobody knows," he stated.
Kalonzo noted that the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Director of Elections Junet Muhammed introduced a second document to have the parties propose Raila as the presidential candidate for Azimio, despite an earlier agreement that the coalition would be named Azimio One Kenya Alliance.
The former Vice President noted that his party declined to sign that part of the agreement.
"Junet Muhamed was looking for proposers for Raila Odinga to become the Azimio candidate and yet we agreed that the new political outfit was Azimio-OKA. If that happened, if it was not rushed as it was, all of us in OKA would have signed. Quite frankly My secretary General has not signed because it was not specific about Azimio.
He noted that he and his OKA co-principals would be retreating to review the legal technicalities of the agreement.
"I still want to have a meeting with my fellow principals and our lawyers including myself will have to reflect on that technicality. However, what is very clear is that we will register Azimio-OKA as a coalition political party," he remarked.
When questioned on matters of what each principal of the newly formed pact would benefit from the coalition, he stated that that will be revealed once the Azimio-OKA presidential candidate was sworn in. He noted that if the candidate wins the August 9 poll, then he will give the share of the cake, but will be legally bound.
"A lot will depend on the goodwill of Raila Odinga because I support him to be president. We have put sufficient safeguards on the three-legged stool but the difference here is that this is going to be registered as a coalition political party, it will have a legal entity.
While affirming that Martha Karua was still in OKA, the former Vice-President mentioned that she was 'uncomfortable' with the newly formed pact. He hinted that the Narc Kenya boss was free to leave the coalition if it did not favor her in Kirinyaga County.
"We need to sit and look at the practicality and the situation on the ground in Kirinyaga to see if it favors her. If it works to her disadvantage, she has the liberty to say that she will not sign to join Azimio-OKA ." he noted.
Kalonzo urged Kenyans to drop branding him a watermelon. He revealed that even though the ODM party leader gave him the nickname, it did not reflect on his character, pitting him as an indecisive leader.
"It is Raila who gave it to me that name, so no problem. But why are they saying that I am a hardliner? You know you have to negotiate for your people and that is a new area in political dispensation."
"Do you think that characterization- of an individual as somebody who is indecisive or an unwilling kingmaker as if this country was meant to suit the aspirations of one or two people is right,?" he posed.
On March 13, the Wiper boss claimed that Raila delayed to the meeting at KICC because he was with a meeting with Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu.
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