Rein in sycophants, Kalonzo tells Raila

Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka has accused ODM party leader Raila Odinga’s closest allies of causing divisions in Cord.

He said that the actions of some of them would ensure that President Uhuru Kenyatta gets a second term.

Mr Musyoka, in particular, accused Kisumu Senator Peter Anyang Nyong’o and Mombasa Woman Representative Mishi Mboko of reckless talk, which, he said, if untamed, could hand Mr Kenyatta a second term in next year’s poll.

His sentiments echoed those of Ford Kenya boss Moses Wetang’ula, who, on Wednesday, also blamed Mr Odinga’s pointmen for the wrangles in the coalition that was mooted in 2013 to counter the alliance of the then TNA leader, Mr Kenyatta, and URP chief William Ruto.

In an exclusive and wide-ranging interview with the Saturday Nation at his Karen home in Nairobi on Thursday, Mr Musyoka also spoke for the first time about ODM’s 10th birthday celebrations last month that he and fellow Cord co-principal Wetang’ula skipped.

He said that if they had attended, and Mr Odinga was endorsed as the coalition’s flag bearer, “that would have been the end of Cord”.

He appeared vexed by a suggestion by some ODM leaders that the party would go it alone, complete with the supposed propping up of Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho, as Mr Odinga’s alternative running mate.

Mr Joho has since said he is defending his seat.

“I was surprised to hear even respected people like Mr Nyong’o talk of such things. You expect contradictions in a coalition because we are democratic. But anyone who is trying to suggest that Raila can run without Kalonzo or Wetang’ula is a Jubilee mole.”

Mr Wetang’ula has also accused ODM lawmakers of taking offence whenever he and the Wiper leader urge Mr Odinga to support them.

Mr Musyoka also differed with Mr Odinga on his statement that the coalition’s flagbearer would be determined through an election, saying he preferred a gentleman’s agreement.

Appearing to fall back to a 2013 pre-election Memorandum of Understanding that would have made him the Cord flagbearer in the 2017 elections, Mr Musyoka warned that there “would be problems” if elections were called to determine the coalition’s candidate.

“I have read (ODM chairman John Mbadi) and even Raila saying the matter of the flagbearer will be sorted out through an election.

"Quite frankly, this is a matter of agreement. Remember there was a matter that we discussed in 2013 that I don’t want to talk about. Both Jubilee and Cord know Cord’s winning formula,” he added.

STATEMENT MISREAD
He revisited the acrimonious parting of ways with Mr Odinga nearly 10 years ago when the Opposition outfit formed out of the triumphant ‘No’ referendum campaign of 2005, split and faced Mr Mwai Kibaki of the Party of National Unity as two parties, a development that changed Kenya’s politics forever.

Mr Musyoka blamed Raila’s allies for “literally chasing him out of Khadija Primary School (in Garissa in 2007) and warned that grandstanding by “extremists” could cost the coalition the election again.

“Raila, Wetang’ula and I have no problem. Squabbling is not between the three of us. The problem we have are the sycophants, the extremists. Who doesn’t know within Cord and Jubilee that ODM can’t win without Kalonzo Musyoka and Moses Wetang’ula? Even a child knows.”

Mr Musyoka called for a way in which the coalition principals could engage one another in a structured manner.

On the celebrations marking ODM’s 10 years, Mr Musyoka said: “During that dinner, there is a lady, I think it was Ms Mishi Mboko who said, “you are our Moses. You will take us to Canaan”. And I said, look for another example because Moses didn’t reach Canaan”.

He sought to clarify his statement at Tononoka last Sunday to the effect that he was tired of being in the cold, which was interpreted by some to mean the former Vice-President, who served as MP between 1985 and 2013, was considering joining Jubilee.

“What I meant was that I must win. Check exactly what I said. I want to have nothing to do with Jubilee. Those trying to read the Tononoka statement to suit their interests are desperate. Those looking for excuses to break Cord cannot find them in me.”

He accused Jubilee of “killing freedoms” and for the “systematic marginalisation of regions that didn’t vote for it,” sparing choice words for Deputy President Ruto, whom, he said, believed that leadership could be bought.

“Ruto said the only option was for Kambas to join government. But who said that option included Jubilee? This country must be saved from Mr Ruto. When you give the impression that you can buy everyone – and there are those who go there to collect Sh100,000 every weekend – what does it say about the government you are running?” Mr Kalonzo posed.

PAINFUL EXPERIENCE
He laughed off reports that he had recently been involved in a meeting to negotiate his entry into Jubilee, terming them disrespectful.

A photo circulating in social media has him and top Jubilee official Onyango Oloo in a meeting, but Mr Musyoka said it was a gathering of a University of Nairobi Master’s Class of 2016, where both he and Mr Onyango are classmates.

“It is disrespectful to that wonderful class of 2016 to suggest it was a meeting between me and Uhuru emissaries.”

He termed as “illogical” the suggestion that the reason behind the seconding of Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed to the AU was to create a vacancy in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to give to someone of high diplomatic standing like himself in exchange for votes.

“Mwai Kibaki once said even rigging needs some intelligence. Some of these suggestions are devoid of logic. How can I move from the Vice-Presidency to be Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary? Is it not better for me to go home?

"Yet I can’t go home until I have taken Uhuru and Ruto home,” he said, and declined to say whether or not he would contest the presidency on his own if he didn’t have his way in Cord.

“But the option is not for Kalonzo Musyoka to join Jubilee.”

He added: “I have paid all my political debts. I paid my debts to the Kalenjin nation by standing with (Daniel arap) Moi all those years. I have paid my debts to the Kikuyu nation by supporting Mzee Kibaki at a critical time – and you know how Kibaki was – and I have paid my debts to the Luo nation by supporting Raila.”

He described being in the Opposition as a “very painful” experience, equating it to detention.

“If you put together all those years I have supported others it amounts to 10 years of detention because detention is really mental. I am saying these ‘nations’ should try sacrifice this time for the sake of the country.”