Power struggles over the National Super Alliance (NASA) presidential ticket have taken an interesting twist after a section of Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) MPs declared a bold move that will secure Raila Odinga’s name on the ballot.
With the prospect of Kalonzo Musyoka’s growing dominance on the horizon, the ODM MPs now want Raila to “run on the party’s ticket and leave NASA and the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) to his NASA co-principles” sources privy to the matter told The Standard.
The ODM henchmen reportedly held a private meeting on Wednesday where they sought to apply internal pressure to the former Prime Minister, upon his return from the US tour, to go it alone.
“The feeling in this group of ODM MPs is that Raila’s co-principals are blackmailing him, that the co-principals are hardening their positions despite all concessions ODM has made and that it has reached a point of disrespect,” the source added.
The meeting also resolved to pressure Raila to pick a running mate among their (ODM) ranks and to hold a National Delegates Conference where the party leader’s presidency will be officially launched.
The NDC meeting will also seek to rally deputy party leader and Mombasa governor Ali Hassan Joho to embark on massive nationwide rallies to consolidate Odinga’s support.
The move by the ODM MPs follows Kalonzo's formal presentation of his presidential nomination papers in a strategic move that gives all the signals he will be on the ballot in the August 8, elections.
The former Vice President has repeatedly urged Raila to honour the 2013 CORD memorandum of understanding (MOU) between ODM and Wiper that indicated the Opposition chief should support endorse Kalonzo as the presidential candidate in the 2017 elections.
NASA coordinating committee co-chairman James Orengo, however, dismissed the MOU insisting that it was a “gentleman’s agreement “between the two and was not legally binding.
