Mutula defends Cord joint nominations

PHOTO | JACOB OWITI Medical Services Minister Anyang’ Nyong’o (left) and his Education counterpart Mutula Kilonzo address the public and students at Kit-Mikayi High School in Kisumu on January 7, 2013.

What you need to know:

  • Plan vital in ensuring that Raila, the alliance’s presidential candidate, has majority in both chambers, says minister

Education Minister Mutula Kilonzo has defended the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy decision for joint nominations.

He insisted that the joint nominations would, however, be conducted only in areas where none of the major affiliated parties in the coalition was popular. (Read: Cord parties ask Raila to solve primaries row)

Speaking at a rally in Kisumu on Monday, the Wiper Democratic Movement secretary-general said such nominations were important to ensure the alliance’s presidential candidate, Mr Raila Odinga, has a majority in both the Senate and the National Assembly, if he wins the next election.

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“You cannot have a president and a deputy president in the next government with a limited number of support in both chambers. It would be disastrous,” Mr Kilonzo said.

It would be unfortunate, he said, if Mr Odinga wins the presidency and lacks the numbers in both chambers, warning that this would derail the reforms the alliance have in mind.

Speaking at the same rally, ODM secretary-general Anyang’ Nyong’o said it would only require a national identity card to be allowed to vote in the nominations set for January 17. He assured all aspirants that the nominations would be free and fair.

At the same time, there is growing discontent within Cord partner parties in Trans Nzoia County over uncertainties on the mode of conducting primaries in the area.

NATIONAL AGENDA
  • ISSUE 1 - Job Creation
  • ISSUE 2 -Food Security
  • ISSUE 3 - Healthcare
  • ISSUE 4 - Education
  • ISSUE 5 - Energy
  • ISSUE 6 - Water & Environment
  • ISSUE 7 - Social Protection
  • ISSUE 8 - Public Infrastructure
  • ISSUE 9 - National Security & Foreign Policy
  • ISSUE 10 - Boosting Exports
  • ISSUE 11 - Devolution
  • ISSUE 12 - Ethnicity

Candidates in ODM have opposed the latest plan that parties will be allowed to field candidates according to their stronghold, saying, they will be unfairly locked out of the process in favour of their Ford Kenya counterparts.

“We want the alliance to allow each party to field each candidate to give the electorate a chance to elect their preferred choice,” said Trans Nzoia ODM governor aspirant Godfrey Siundu.

Elsewhere, Cord members held separate rallies in Mombasa at the weekend where they traded accusations against each other over the nominations. Speaking at Bomu playground, Transport assistant minister Hassan Joho challenged his rivals in the Wiper and Ford Kenya parties to face him head-on rather than seeking a separate nomination process.

At Khadijah  Primary School, Cord governor aspirant Abdalla Hemed Mwaruwa (Wiper), Senate aspirant Hassan Omar (ODM) and Mrs Alice Mbodze Maitha (Wiper) accused the group led by Mr Joho of having unqualified candidates for the seats.

Meanwhile, a group of ODM aspirants from lower eastern have threatened to ditch the party over its stand to hold joint nominations with their Cord partners.

In Nairobi, Wiper parliamentary group secretary Philip Kaloki and Kaiti MP Gideon Ndambuki said Cord parties should be allowed to field candidates in regions perceived to be their strongholds.

Reports by Brian Yonga, Philip Bwayo, Daniel Nyassy, Mwakera Mwajefa, Leonard Mutinda and Lucas Barasa

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