ANC are ‘parasites’ in Nasa coalition, Mudavadi now told

When Amani National Congress (ANC) leader Musalia Mudavadi mooted the idea of the National Super Alliance (Nasa), he had hardly any notion that this would be his biggest political nightmare.

Like the proverbial Arab and his camel, Mr Mudavadi is progressively losing control of Nasa and, in the words of Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party Secretary-General Edwin Sifuna, his people have become parasites in the coalition.

However, Mr Mudavadi’s biggest headache currently is that his party members are traversing Kibra Constituency campaigning for the ODM candidate.

Whereas Raila Odinga’s ODM on Thursday told ANC to quit the coalition if they were unhappy with its affairs, Mr Mudavadi, through his press secretary Kibisu Kabatesi, insisted he was the bona fide founder of the coalition and would not be intimidated to leave his brainchild.

“Anyone who is sensible knows Nasa is a child of ANC through its leader Musalia Mudavadi. ODM is a visitor in Nasa that cannot demand that the owner of Nasa should leave his house,” Mr Kabatesi said in a statement.

FUNDING WINDFALL

But Mr Sifuna challenged ANC to produce Nasa documents if they are in their custody “as the self-proclaimed founders”.

“Where are the instruments of Nasa? Do they even have custody of the coalition? Where was the Nasa secretariat housed if not at Capitol Hill,” Mr Sifuna posed.

The fights in Nasa emanated from ODM’s refusal to share its Sh4.2 billion government funding windfall accrued from 2011 to 2016 with its coalition partners – ANC, Wiper Democratic Party and Ford Kenya.

Mr Mudavadi is also in a political dilemma over how to deal with ANC rebels who have openly campaigned for the ODM candidate in the Kibra mini poll, Mr Bernard Imran Okoth, at the expense of their candidate Eliud Owalo.

Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala and nominated MP Godfrey Osotsi have openly defied ANC and joined the ODM brigade in the campaigns, saying that the Mudavadi-led party is still part of the Nasa coalition led by Mr Odinga.

COALITION ACCORD

On Thursday, Mr Sifuna told ANC to forget about the parties’ cash, arguing that none of their coalition partners supported them when they went to court to fight for the allocation.

“They never contributed even a single cent to pay our lawyers … Ikiiva wanaamka kama ma slay queen wakiskia umeangukia jackpot. (They are behaving like ‘slay queens’ when one wins the jackpot).”

The registrar of political parties, Ms Anne Nderitu, said the funds can only be disbursed as per the Nasa coalition agreement.

“The Nasa coalition summit, which is its top organ as per their coalition agreement, should sit and give directions on that matter,” Ms Nderitu said.

ANC insiders confided to the Nation that Mr Mudavadi was reluctant to quit Nasa because “underneath this show of confidence in Nasa by Mudavadi lies real serious legal and political implications.”

The threats by Ford Kenya to pull out of the coalition following the removal of its party leader from the Senate minority position has not been forthcoming.

REPRESENTATION

Mr Sifuna has several times dared ANC and Ford Kenya to pull out of the coalition by simply writing to the registrar of political parties but the parties have avoided that route.

Unlike Wiper and ODM, both ANC and Ford Kenya are not parliamentary parties as they do not have at least five per cent representation in Parliament. They cannot nominate members to committees and parliamentary positions.

Legal experts say it will be difficult for ANC to successfully discipline Mr Malala and Mr Osotsi due to the lacuna in the Political Parties Act, which allows members of a party in a coalition to openly promote the interests, policies and ideologies of any of the parties within the coalition.