Uhuru hosts allies over coalition deal

Politicians allied to Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Eldoret North MP William Ruto on Thursday morning met as they continue to hammer out a deal that will see them go to the polls as a unit.

Mr Kenyatta hosted the politicians for breakfast in his house along State House Road where they discussed among other things how they will convince their supporters that the Uhuru-Ruto ticket is the winning one.

The meeting was initially scheduled to take place at the Norfolk Hotel.

They also discussed planned regional visits to meet Heads of States starting with Juba on Monday.

The shuttle diplomacy will also see them visit Kampala, Kigali, Khartoum and Addis Ababa before the end of the month.

Mr Kenyatta led a team from the alliance to Bujumbura on Wednesday where they met Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza. Read (Uhuru takes talks to Burundi)

The meeting was attended by Justice Minister Eugene Wamalwa, Water Minister Charity Ngilu, Environment Minister Chirau Mwakwere, MPs Aden Duale, Kiema Kilonzo, Najib Balala, Charles Keter and Musikari Kombo.

Despite insisting that he is still in touch with the Uhuru-Ruto politics, Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka or any of his allies were not at the meeting.

Speaking to the Nation on phone, Mr Kombo said that they have planned “other regular meetings” next week to further discuss the details of the coalition agreement.

“The meeting was a debriefing on Bujumbura visit to our colleagues (Mr Ruto’s team) that for one reason or the other could not make it to travel with us. We have agreed to put a team together to work on the modalities and work to beat the IEBC deadline on forming a coalition,” Mr Kombo said.

He added; “Our coalition is looking at a Kenyan agenda. It is not our agenda to look at one individual, as claimed by others. We want to deal with all problems that are affecting every Kenyan and the country. Our agenda includes addressing the issues of unemployment, health and cohesion among other,” Mr Kombo said.