Mystery of Mudavadi’s Kibaki links

Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi was forced yet again to distance his presidential bid from President Kibaki during a series of political rallies on Friday.

He dismissed as propaganda reports that his campaign had the blessings of State House and an alliance of leaders under the G7 Alliance.

“Why is Raila not a project of Njonjo and other politicians from central Kenya whom he has been talking to?” posed Mr Mudavadi, who is seeking the United Democratic Forum ticket.

While he has consistently insisted that he is his own man, fresh conspiracy theories continued to build on his ties to President Kibaki.

On Friday, ODM sensationally linked Mr Mudavadi’s campaign to the President’s son Jimmy Kibaki. Read (Mudavadi, Raila head to Ruto’s turf in vote hunt)

The Raila Odinga for President national director Barrack Muluka gave dates, venues and participants of meetings, which he claimed were used to prepare Mr Mudavadi’s exit from the party.

Mr Muluka alleged that meetings were held with Deputy Prime Miniser Uhuru Kenyatta, Eldoret North MP William Ruto, and Jimmy Kibaki in Gigiri before the defection from the Orange party.

Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto could not be reached for comment as text messages sent to them and their aides were not returned.

“On March 20, 2012, there was an anti-ODM meeting in Jimmy Kibaki’s office in Gigiri. In attendance were Mr Koech (representing Ruto), Jimmy, and a representative of Mr Mudavadi as well as Mr Kenyatta’s,” Mr Muluka claimed in a statement to Saturday Nation.

But the younger Kibaki dismissed the allegations, saying he has never been involved in matters of political parties.

“I have never been involved in political party affairs least of all ODM,” he said when contacted for comment.

He went on: “I am not a member of any political party in Kenya, not even PNU. I am a private citizen and not a politician and I wish to remain so.”

Mr Mudavadi’s spokesman Kibisu Kabatesi refused to comment on the latest allegations, saying he did not want “to lend credence to wild claims.”

Apart from the roots of the party, which have been traced to a senior official at State House, Mr Mudavadi’s security has recently been beefed up with at least four GSU officers assigned to him.

A civil servant at the Office of the President confirmed to Saturday Nation that there was a plan to send at least three additional Administration Police officers to Mr Mudavadi’s Mululu home in Vihiga.

The DPM’s twin rallies in Bungoma and Kakamega last weekend were also an elaborate display of state power with police officers lining the potholed Kisumu-Kakamega highway.

Police officers were stationed at intervals along the route with motorists being diverted off the road when his entourage neared trading centres.

Security was being commanded by Western police boss Benson Kibui while Kakamega OCPD, and not Vihiga OCPD, was in charge.