Sabatia MP: Mudavadi could not fund his presidential campaign

Amani National Congress (ANC) party leader Musalia Mudavadi chose to work with Deputy President William Ruto after he failed to marshal enough financial support to mount a formidable presidential campaign on his own, a key ally and adviser has disclosed.

Sabatia MP Alfred Agoi, a member of ANC, said it was not an easy decision but a practical one especially after it became apparent that President Uhuru Kenyatta and his handshake partner Raila Odinga would not back him for the country’s top job.

“Our initial strategy was to ensure that Musalia Mudavadi’s name would be on the ballot as a presidential candidate in the August 9 General Election. But he did not have enough resources to sustain the presidential campaigns,” Mr Agoi said.

He added: “We told him (Mudavadi), ‘Your supporters want you to go all the way to the ballot as a presidential candidate’, but we were disadvantaged since we did not have the resources to face Raila Odinga and William Ruto in the campaigns. The only option for us then was to join the Deputy President and work with him.”

Mr Mudavadi announced his party’s decision to join the DP’s camp during his party’s National Delegates Convention (NDC) at the Bomas of Kenya on January 23.

Mr Agoi, who spoke in Emuhaya constituency on Tuesday, said the ANC leader decided to join the DP after realising that he could not raise enough resources to sustain his presidential campaign.

The revelation, coming from Mr Mudavadi’s right-hand man, may be confirming that DP Ruto is the Kenya Kwanza presidential candidate though ANC and Ford Kenya still want their supporters to believe the matter was yet to be settled.

Mr Mudavadi and his team are reported to have gone back to the drawing board, coming up with a plan B to counter the onslaught from Mr Odinga’s side after their acrimonious breakup in Nasa.

After leaving Nasa, he had a brief sojourn in the One Kenya Alliance (OKA), where again he left in a dramatic fashion and announced he had joined the DP’s side, in what was billed as the earthquake that shook the political landscape.

His OKA co-principals Kalonzo Musyoka and Gideon Moi had to storm out of the ANC delegates meeting at the Bomas of Kenya when they got wind that their political ‘enemy’, DP Ruto, was on his way there.

But the move triggered defections of MPs from his party to ODM and the Democratic Action Party of Kenya (DAP-K), denting the support enjoyed by ANC in the Western region.

Lugari MP Ayub Savula, who was the ANC deputy party leader, quit, accusing Mr Mudavadi of betraying the Luhya community by choosing to work with Mr Ruto.

Other MPs who defected from ANC included Peter Nabulindo (Matungu), Christopher Aseka (Khwisero), Tindi Mwale (Butere), Titus Khamala (Lurambi) and Oku Kaunya (Teso North).

But Mr Agoi explained that the only viable option for Mr Mudavadi and his team at the time was to reach a deal with the Deputy President and come up with a coalition to ensure they had a stake in the next government.

“Those who defected from ANC cannot be trusted. They did it because of their personal selfish interests,” said the Sabatia MP.

Mr Agoi, who has declared he will vie for the Vihiga governor’s seat, said critics of the ANC leader who were unhappy with the decision to work with Dr Ruto were missing the point.

But his remarks are in sharp contrast to what Mr Mudavadi told the Nation in an exclusive interview published on February 5.

Mr Mudavadi, who accompanied Dr Ruto to a 10-day tour of the US and UK, said: “All I can say is that I think I have lived up to my commitment because I told Kenyans that our NDC was going to transform and start shaping the politics of the country in a very significant way. I think now that is coming to pass. As far as I am concerned, we are now moving on, our target is August 9, 2022.”

On the campaign trail, supporters of Mr Mudavadi, including Mr Agoi and Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala, have insisted that the ANC leader had not shelved his presidential ambition and the Kenya Kwanza principals will have the final say on who becomes the flag-bearer of the alliance.

On February 25, Mr Mudavadi and his Ford Kenya counterpart met delegates from the two parties at his home in Mululu, Vihiga, to try to calm his restive supporters after he abandoned OKA and joined Dr Ruto’s camp.

About 5,000 delegates came from Vihiga, Kakamega, Bungoma, Busia and Trans Nzoia counties.

At the meeting, Mr Mudavadi told his supporters that he had made the decision to work with the DP so as to ensure the Western region had a stake in the next government.

“We are not going to be forced to beg and kneel before we are allowed to join the next government. That will not happen. For us in the Kenya Kwanza alliance, we just don’t want to be in government, we want to have a stake in it so that we form the next government with our heads held high,” Mr Mudavadi said.

He accused the Jubilee administration of running down the education sector and failing to fight high-level corruption in the government.

After joining Dr Ruto’s side, Mr Mudavadi has emerged as a fierce critic of President Kenyatta’s administration.

“Fingers are being pointed at us over alleged corruption and yet this government has been riddled with corruption. Those who are behind the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) scandal are right in government and action has not been taken against them,” said Mr Mudavadi at the Mululu meeting.

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