Why Mudavadi-TNA deal failed
What you need to know:
- Ruto says Uhuru wanted to step down for UDF leader but pressure from supporters led him to back out of arrangement
The initial agreement to hand Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi the Jubilee Alliance presidential ticket was untenable, Eldoret North MP William Ruto said on Wednesday.
Mr Ruto said the secret pact that would have seen Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta cede his presidential bid in favour of Mr Mudavadi did not work because there was a “constituency which did not make things happen.”
“There was a challenge following the agreement,” Mr Ruto said when he appeared on Citizen TV’s morning show Cheche. The United Republican Party (URP) leader said Mr Kenyatta had good intentions when he co-opted Mr Mudavadi into the Jubilee Alliance and wanted the deal to work.
“It looks like those other people did not (want the deal to work),” Mr Ruto said without elaborating.
Following the impasse, Mr Ruto said Mr Kenyatta and himself had to ponder available options of either picking the alliance’s candidate through consensus or nomination by national delegates.
He said Mr Kenyatta and Mr Mudavadi will now have to slug it out through nomination with the winner flying the alliance’s flag.
On Tuesday, Mr Mudavadi revealed that he signed a secret pact with Mr Kenyatta in which the latter was to step down for him.
Mr Kenyatta conceded that there was such an agreement, but when he presented it to his party’s delegates for approval, it was rejected.
The Eldoret North MP defended the decision to vie for elective posts despite facing crimes against humanity charges at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
He said Mr Kenyatta and himself could not subordinate their constitutional rights over what he termed as ‘allegations’ and ‘falsehoods’.
“If we had participated in a coup to make ourselves get into government, it would be untenable. But if we participated in a democratic process and we are elected, who are you to tell millions of Kenyans that you cannot elect Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto?” he posed.
On December 7, 40 MPs allied to TNA threatened to quit the Jubilee alliance if Mr Kenyatta stepped down for Mr Mudavadi to lead the coalition with URP and UDF into the March 4 elections.
They threatened to decamp to ODM rather than support Mr Mudavadi.
