The Day Uhuru Held Secret Meeting with Kalonzo to Plan Raila's Downfall

The Kenyan political scene has always been full of interesting twists and turns as leaders shift camps seeking the best ship to sail them through to power.

The shifts are characterised by incidents of betrayal as leaders plot underground deals to gain a competitive advantage over their rivals.

Despite the current situation where Uhuru Kenyatta is the President while Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka are Opposition leaders, Kenyatta and Musyoka are said to have once held a highly concealed meeting to plan Odinga's downfall.

Former Bahari MP Joe Khamisi, in his book titled The Politics of Betrayal: Diaries of a Kenyan Politician gives details of the exclusive forum.

The meeting took place at the boardroom of Kenyatta’s private offices at the Chancery Building along Valley road, Nairobi on July 4, 2007.

At the time, campaigns for the 2007 General Election were in top gear and Odinga had already expressed interest in the presidential seat.

Kenyatta, who was the KANU leader, had been working closely with the then ODM-Kenya which was led by Odinga.

President Kenyatta and Musyoka are said to have been infuriated that Odinga was masterminding a campaign to destroy partner parties by denying them an opportunity to field candidates in elections.

During the discussions, Musyoka's side was represented by MPs Khamisi, David Musila and Nyiva Mwendwa while Kenyatta went with Dalmas Otieno, Marsden Madoka, and Naomi Shabaan.

The meeting was meant to come up with a formidable team that would orchestrate Odinga's downfall by frustrating his presidential bid.

“I am certainly not happy with the kind of treatment KANU is getting from ODM-Kenya. Raila has become uncontrollable and the only way to deal with him is to isolate him,” Kenyatta was quoted.

On his part, Musyoka felt that the Raila could not be trusted with leadership of the country hence his bid had to be brought down.

“He is acting like a prefect and treating all of us like children, behaving as if he is already the party’s presidential nominee. It would be dangerous to trust Raila with the leadership of the country. Can you imagine what Raila will do to all of us? He will step all over the rest of us after he becomes president. We should not allow that to happen," Musyoka is quoted.

To describe how heated the debate was, Khamisi states: " The mood in the room was hostile and both Kalonzo and Uhuru appeared spoilt for a fight. Nevertheless, they knew that Raila would not be easy to wrestle. Their only option was to try to isolate him and make sure he did not get the party’s nomination."

The group decided to form a strong alliance that would also include Deputy President William Ruto to ensure Odinga was not nominated as ODM-Kenya's flag bearer.

Afterwards, Musyoka and Kenyatta started leading rallies to popularise themselves with the intention of sending a message to Odinga that a major plan was in the offing.

This friendship was not to last as shortly later, Kenyatta announced that he would support then-President Mwai Kibaki's re-election.

According to the former Magarini MP, ODM-Kenya condemned Uhuru’s decision and felt betrayed by a man who, all along, had promised KANU’s support for the movement.

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