David Musila rallies Kamba leaders behind Jubilee
Former Kitui senator David Musila announces his support for President Uhuru Kenyatta during a Jubilee party event attended by Foreign Affairs PS Monica Juma (seated second right) in Kitui on September 6, 2017. PHOTO | KITAVI MUTUA | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Jubilee leaders warned their Nasa counterparts, including Governor Ngilu and Wiper MPs Gideon Mulyungi and Makali Mulu against intimidating Jubilee supporters during the campaigns.
- Mr Musila said it would be “politically foolhardy” to throw his weight behind Nasa presidential candidate Raila Odinga and Mr Musyoka.
- The Jubilee MPs said they felt emboldened by Mr Musila’s entry into their campaign team.
The Jubilee Party got a boost in Ukambani after former Kitui senator and Wiper Democratic Party chairman David Musila, former Mwingi West MP Bernard Kitungi and 18 politicians allied to the National Super Alliance (Nasa) from Makueni announced they would support and campaign for the re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Mr Musila, a long-serving Mwingi South MP and former close confidante of Nasa presidential running-mate and Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka, who unsuccessfully ran for the Kitui governorship as an independent candidate, said the presidential repeat election ordered by the Supreme Court was a blessing in disguise for the Kamba community to chart a different political course.
“We cannot afford to be outside the government for another five years, so the logical thing to do is to support the winning team and be assured of development,” Mr Musila said in Kitui.
CONGRATULATED PRESIDENT
Speaking after a closed-door meeting with Kitui Jubilee leaders, Mr Musila read a statement in which he congratulated President Kenyatta for “winning the August election”.
Mr Musila downplayed remarks by Governor Charity Ngilu, saying: “We will seek votes for President Kenyatta across the entire county. He will once again win the October 17 repeat elections because his development record for Kenya and Kitui County is superior.’’ In their statements, Mr Musila and the former MP singled out the Kibwezi-Kitui-Mwingi-Usueni road as one of the development projects Jubilee had initiated in the area.
Jubilee leaders warned their Nasa counterparts, including Governor Ngilu and Wiper MPs Gideon Mulyungi (Mwingi Central) and Makali Mulu (Kitui Central), against intimidating Jubilee supporters during the campaigns.
They described as personal and unfortunate remarks by Governor Ngilu to the effect that Mr Kenyatta would not get votes in Ukambani.
NASA
Mr Musila said it would be “politically foolhardy” to throw his weight behind Nasa presidential candidate Raila Odinga and Mr Musyoka. He said this after meeting the president’s campaign team, which included Kitui MPs Rachel Nyamai and Nimrod Mbai as well as Foreign Affairs PS Monica Juma.
Ms Juma said she was concerned that the Kamba community was being misled into opposition ranks in pursuit of somebody else’s political ambitions.
On the other hand, the Jubilee MPs said they felt emboldened by Mr Musila’s entry into their campaign team. “We can now preach the Jubilee gospel in Kitui much louder” said Ms Nyamai, the Kitui South MP. Jubilee won two National Assembly seats and a similar number in the county assembly.
CAMPAIGN
In Makueni, a number of politicians who unsuccessfully contested MCA seats in the recent election on Wiper, Muungano and National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) tickets said they would campaign for President Kenyatta.
The politicians spoke at Salama shopping centre. Mr Gideon Ndambuki, who led the meeting, said the combined team had resolved to mobilise Ukambani to campaign for President Kenyatta.
Others who addressed the meeting include Mr Bernard Musau, former deputy Speaker of the Makueni County Assembly, Sports Kenya board chairman Fred Muteti, former Kenya Medical Training College board chairman Philip Kaloki, former Makueni assembly Speaker Stephen Ngelu and former Kilome MP Regina Ndambuki.
