Tujibebe Wakenya party leader, William Kabogo Gitau, says that Kenya Kwanza should emulate Azimio La Umoja's strategy when dealing with several candidates from affiliate parties running for the same seat.
Speaking during an interview with NTV on Monday, June 20, Kabogo asked Kenya Kwanza flagbearer, William Ruto, and his running mate, Rigathi Gachagua, to refrain from taking sides and campaigning for United Democratic Alliance (UDA) candidates.
He told DP Ruto emulate Raila Odinga, who despite being the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader, he does not endorse candidates from his party and instead asks the electorate to vote for whoever they will deem fit to lead them as long as that person is a member of the Azimio la Umoja.
"We have just watched a clip in Kajiado where Raila asked Narok residents to chose between Joseph Ole Lenku and David Ole Nkedianye whom he recognised as Azimio candidates. That is what I expected we would do in Kenya Kwanza," opined Kabogo.
The former Kiambu governor particularly took issue with how Gachagua campaigned for UDA's Kimani Wamatangi in Kiambu yet the alliance has other candidates in the region including himself and Moses Kuria of Chama Cha Kazi.
"We headed to Kiambu as Kenya Kwanza only for Gachagua to turn it into a UDA affair. He rode along with Wamatangi, talking about a six-piece voting system, yet we are in a coalition.
"When UDA takes over coalition meetings, we - principals and leaders of constituent parties are left out - it only means that we are not needed and you cannot stay where you are not wanted. You leave," he added.
Kabogo explained that he consequently wrote to fellow principals, Musalia Mudavadi of ANC and Ford Kenya's Moses Wetangula, asking if the coalition was still intact, and how they managed to prevent the same from happening in their regions.
However, he disclosed that he is yet to get a response from the coalition, a silence he assumed was consent to some of the issues raised in the letter. The Tujibebe party leader, however, dismissed claims that he would be joining Azimio.
"We shall continue as a party because we did not fold up. I have not personally thought of joining Azimio. I am not a leader that changes the stand easily," he affirmed.
Notably, the Kiambu county gubernatorial candidate added that the ongoing sibling rivalry in Kenya Kwanza paired with Gachagua's alleged interference had cost the coalition its popularity in the Mount Kenya region.
He explained that the selection of Martha Karua and the Mathira Member of Parliament's reckless decisions had shifted the region's vote by about three per cent.
