Kalonzo says he will deal with pollsters if he forms next government

Cord co-principal Kalonzo Musyoka has said he will deal with pollsters if he forms the next government.

During the launch of his autobiography in Nairobi on Wednesday night, he said: “I want to tell the pollsters to stop manipulating the minds of Kenyans. Saying Uhuru is at 50 per cent, are we really living in the same country? We warn you pollsters, we will deal with you once we form the government next year. They must stop this game,” he said.

Mr Musyoka was referring to the latest opinion poll by Ipsos, which was released on Wednesday and showed that if elections were held, President Uhuru Kenyatta would win the election by 50 per cent, followed by Mr Raila Odinga at 22 per cent while Mr Musyoka would only be supported by 2 per cent of voters.

The Cord co-principal told his supporters not to believe the pollsters.

He was addressing a gathering during the launch of his book Against All Odds at the dusitD2 Nairobi hotel: “Nobody would have imagined that in this age, under a new Constitution, all this can be happening in Parliament,” he said.

The Wiper party leader was referring to the confrontation between Cord and Jubilee MPs over proposed changes to election laws, which were passed on Thursday. According to Mr Musyoka, the amendments are designed to steal elections.

'STOLEN ELECTIONS'

“The culture of stolen elections in Kenya must end. Had I known what happened to Raila (in the 2007 election) we would have thought harder.”

At the time, Mr Musyoka was appointed vice-president, while Mr Odinga became prime minister, in a coalition government headed by President Mwai Kibaki.

Ms Rebecca Garang, the widow of South Sudan leader John Garang, described Mr Musyoka as a close family friend who stood with her family after the death of her husband.

She said her children refer to Mr Musyoka as uncle.

Mr Musyoka’s daughter Damarie gave a glowing tribute of her father.

The presidential hopeful said his wife was unwell. “We ask you pray with us. She would have loved to be here,” he added.

His Cord co-principal Moses Wetang’ula said changing the laws to allow use of manual means to identify voters in case the electronic system failed, is fraud.

“What we are trying to do is to avoid a law that can help in rigging elections. In Kenya, we are hooked to the satellites, so we can transmit results even from the deep sea,” he said.

Kitui Senator David Musila said the chaos in Parliament was unprecedented.