NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 24- After months of meetings after the other, even with President Uhuru Kenyatta, Amani National Congress leader Musalia Mudavadi says “enough is enough” and is on a hunting mission, for political friends.
While his party ANC will be seeking partnerships ahead of the August 9 elections, he said it will not be with President Uhuru Kenyatta’s backed Azimio la Umoja alliance, which he dismissed as a “specter.”
President Kenyatta has unsuccessfully been trying to broker a deal among the One Kenya Alliance principals, for them to front one presidential candidate.
The President is backing former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who is also the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader.
“For the avoidance of doubt, let me state this in plain words: We may not know who is going with us, or who will be our comrades-at-arms on this mission, but we know who they will not be. They will not be those who cannot be trusted; those whom you trust at your own risk.” Mudavadi said.
In his speech on Sunday at the Bomas of Kenya in Nairobi, where delegates endorsed his presidential bid, Mudavadi spoke of political betrayal, vowing to only work with people he can trust.
“We have travelled with untrustworthy persons before. And even when we have given them another chance to redeem themselves, they have failed miserably, by returning to their old mischief. It is true, after all, that bad manners die hard,” he asserted.
ANC, he said, “shall no longer countenance the company of those who cannot be trusted. No, never again.”
“For the avoidance of doubt, the ANC stand, which I am privileged to pronounce is that the specter called Azimio is not an option.”
He said the Raila Odinga-led Azimio La Umoja alliance was not, after all, about unity.
“Azimio is about the self-preservation of some cunning individuals. The patterns are only too well-known and predictable,” he said.
“We have had enough of these self-preservation schemes. Tumechoka (We are tired). Enough is enough, TUSIDANGANYANE (Let us not lie to each other). We will not walk with you.”
Odinga has been rooting for his candidature in Mudavadi’s backyard and has even been endorsed in a recent event in Kakamega, by a host of leaders from the areas.
This seemingly angered Mudavadi, who is also seeking to succeed President Kenyatta.
Still, on Sunday, Deputy President William Ruto announced plans to work with Mudavadi.
Ruto said he will also be working with Moses Wetangula of Ford Kenya “and all other parties that want to walk with us in the journey to unite and transform Kenya.”
He said this on a day Mudavadi dismissed President Uhuru Kenyatta’s backed Azimio alliance whose presidential candidate is former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
“We will ensure that we raise the bar of leadership so that deceit does not become part of the equation of leadership in our country,” the Deputy President said.
He, like Mudavadi, has accused the ODM leader of deceit in the past.
“We are glad today marks a new page in the political discourse of our nation. UDA commits to work with ANC, Ford Kenya, and all other parties that want to walk with us in the journey to unite and transform Kenya,” he said.
He said as leaders, they will work to protect democracy “and allow every Kenyan to freely make their political choices.”
“We must resist the criminalisation of dissenting or alternative views. The criminal justice system cannot be weaponised to drive political narratives.”
Wiper Leader Kalonzo Musyoka and Senator Gideon Moi walked out of the event, on the realisation that DP Ruto had been invited.
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