I expect Raila to support my bid in 2017: Kalonzo

Cord principal Kalonzo Musyoka says he expects his coalition partners in the opposition to support his presidential bid in the next General Election.

In a candid interview with the Sunday Nation at his Karen home in Nairobi, Mr Musyoka said he had shelved his presidential bids in the past in favour of other politicians, and it should only follow that ODM leader Raila Odinga and his Ford-Kenya counterpart Moses Wetang’ula return the gesture in 2017.

“There is no doubt that I am ready to go for the Presidency, absolutely no doubt. I was ready in 2002 and ran in 2007. In 2013 I put the interest of the country above myself and supported Raila,” he said.

Claiming he had demonstrated selflessness over the years and challenging his co-principals to return the favour are likely to trigger serious debate within the Cord family.
“In my 20th anniversary of service to the people of Mwingi North, I said I am ready to die for a brother, I wonder if they (Raila and Wetang’ula) are also ready to do the same.”

Mr Musyoka’s remarks come a week after a special delegates conference of the Wiper Democratic Movement (WDM) declared him the presidential flag-bearer in the next election. The move is widely seen as laying the ground for a possible protracted tussle in Cord on who will be the candidate.

“We have just endorsed the 2015 edition of the party constitution. Wiper is now ahead of the pack in terms of discipline and party organisation. We also installed new officials,” he declared at the event the Bomas of Kenya last weekend.

Supporters of Mr Odinga also feel their man has “one bullet left in his gun”, and ODM secretary general Ababu Namwamba has in the past said 2017 will be the year to use it. They will, therefore, be reluctant to have him make way for Mr Musyoka.

In a tactical move that perhaps is meant to keep the coalition intact, the former vice-president added he would, however, be willing to fight it out with ODM and Ford-Kenya leaders to be the alliance’s presidential candidate.
GO FOR NOMINATIONS
“Whatever it is that I do, I will seek the nomination of Cord to be the flag-bearer. This is where I belong; it is the liberation team. It is my hope that my colleagues will favour me with the opportunity to carry the mantle.”
Together with Mr Odinga and Senator Wetang’ula, who is the Senate minority leader, Mr Musyoka signed a memorandum of understanding in the run-up to the last election, a document whose content reportedly says Mr Odinga would be a one-term president and then support the Wiper boss in 2017. It is not clear what it says in the event Mr Odinga were not elected, which was the case.
“It (MoU) is there, but you do not want to go bandying documents all the timel what is important is the unity of Cord affiliates,” he said.
Mr Musyoka dismissed as “gossip” reports that the Jubilee government was reaching out to him with a view to offering him a position after asking Land minister Charity Ngilu to step aside over graft allegations.
“I cannot sell my conscience,” he said before adding a rider. “I represent aspirations of many people, and even if I were to change my position, I would go back to them and explain so they understand me.”

He said any discussion with the government must not be done in a vacuum.
“The talks must be structured. They must be done within the framework of Cord where Raila and Wetang’ula are involved and not just myself,” he said.

Speculation has been rife that the government, through individuals close to Mr Musyoka, has been courting him now that Mrs Ngilu is outside the government for the sake of regional balancing.
He said even though Mrs Ngilu has been used to fight him before, he bears no grudge against her.

“Why is it that every time people equate me to Charity Ngilu? I find it deeply offensive. First of all, Charity is a widow, and I know what the Bible teaches about widows so I cannot fight her. She plays in another league.”

The former vice-president also recounted how during the pre-election negotiations with Mr Uhuru Kenyatta and Mr William Ruto, Mrs Ngilu showed up at a meeting with the embattled Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza in Bujumbura, a forum he thought was meant just for the trio.

Mrs Ngilu would later be named to the Cabinet by Mr Kenyatta after joining the Jubilee Alliance at the eleventh hour.
Mrs Ngilu and Mr Musyoka are perennial political rivals and have always pulled in different directions although the latter appears to have won the supremacy battle in Ukambani politics.
He also disclosed that Cord principals had written to Cord governors to demand total loyalty to the coalition, claiming that some of them were working with Jubilee.

“As Cord principals, we wrote letters to all the Cord governors telling them to demonstrate their loyalty to the ideals of the coalition. Raila, Wetang’ula and I signed it. We cannot allow them to commit crimes against democracy,” he said.

Governors like Machakos’ Alfred Mutua and Nairobi’s Evans Kidero were at some point accused of wavering in their support for Cord.

Drumming up support for electoral reforms that the Okoa Kenya referendum campaigns seeks to achieve, the politician warned that the diaspora constituency could be the next frontier of poll fraud.
“Diaspora vote is key, and we must have a thorough consultation to ensure registration is not done in a manner that favours one side. Ambassadors are appointees of Jubilee and hence cannot be trusted with the process,” he said.

In creating the diaspora constituency, there is a proposal to have ambassadors act as returning officers in the countries where they serve.
His assessment of the Jubilee performance will certainly not impress the government.

“This is a leadership that believes in auctioning the country. This is a thieving state; the country needs to get back on track urgently.”
LEAVE SOMALIA

He said insecurity will be the death of the Jubilee administration and advised President Kenyatta to order the Kenya Defence Forces troops out of Somalia.

“It is in the best interest of the country to withdraw KDF to a common border. This does not amount to an act of cowardice. If the aim was to make us safe and save tourism, it’s on its knees. Today, hotel owners are looking for buyers to sell these properties to and workers have been laid off. What moral authority do they have to govern?” he asked.

He recalled how in 2004 as Foreign Affairs minister he got rival camps to sign a peace deal christened the Mbagathi Protocol only for the friends of IGAD (Intergovernmental Authority on Development) to fail to prevent the anarchy that followed.

Deploying the KDF to Somalia was also a blunder, he said.
“In the beginning, we never encouraged countries with a shared border with Somalia to send in soldiers for obvious reasons. We lost the neutrality, with serious repercussions.”