Deputy President William Ruto’s and Azimio presidential flag bearer Raila Odinga’s camps are facing fresh ‘zoning’ fears as the two leading presidential aspirants seek ways of boosting their numbers in elective positions in the August 9 polls.
Both Dr Ruto’s and Mr Odinga’s camps feel that having many candidates eyeing a particular position within their alliances could spell doom for them and lead to loss of crucial seats that are vital in stabilising their administrations should they win.
Mr Odinga has insisted that all aspirants under the coalition will be subjected to fresh opinion polls to ascertain their popularity before allowing them to fly the Azimio flag in the August elections.
He said the opinion polls will be conducted in June after allowing the various candidates under the Azimio coalition to campaign for about one and half months.
"We (Azimio) would have wanted to have a single candidate in every constituency, but we have agreed to allow three or four candidates and let them campaign for a month and a half until June then we will do an opinion poll to see who is more popular.
"We will agree with those who are not popular to step aside so that we don't divide our votes and allow our rivals to defeat us... Even if you are 10 candidates, only one person will win," said Mr Odinga.
On Sunday, Azimio Secretary-General Junet Mohamed said that whereas the coalition party has no agreed position on zoning, they will use internal mechanisms to deal with such issues to ensure the party has numbers after the August polls.
“Now, any party in Azimio vying for any position is allowed to campaign and parties allowed to field candidates anywhere and everywhere except in Nairobi where ODM and Jubilee had agreed on how to share positions from MCA, MP, senators and governors – being the only zoning I am aware of now,” Mr Mohamed said at a presser in Nairobi on Sunday.
He went on: “But if there is any other agreement within the coalition we will share. For now, everyone is allowed to contest and every party has the right to field a candidate everywhere in the Republic of Kenya.”
He noted that should there be a necessity on zoning, it will be based on mutual agreement.
“The general principle is that every party is entitled to have a candidate anywhere in the country. But internally, as a family we can sit and see if one party candidate is stronger, we can agree and implore the others to back him or her.”
In the DP’s Kenya Kwanza Alliance (KKA), already a storm is brewing over alleged zoning favouring his United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party.
Amani National Congress (ANC) leader Musalia Mudavadi’s camp and Farmers party led by former Permanent Secretary Irungu Nyakera have protested over what they termed as a plot to “zone the country in favour UDA” to their disadvantage.
The two constituent parties of Kenya Kwanza Alliance have accused the DP’s UDA of advocating for a “six piece” voting pattern in some parts of the country, particularly in Mt Kenya region to disadvantage their candidates.
In a protest letter to UDA Secretary General Veronica Maina, the parties accused some UDA officials of making utterances that are likely to undermine the spirit of the coalition.
“On May 3, 2022, UDA officials held an aspirants meeting in Muranga County led by UDA Secretary of Legal Affairs Edward Muriu.
“He led the meeting in addressing the media where they insisted that voters should vote a six piece in favour of UDA terming the other parties in Kenya Kwanza as matangari (which means tattered clothes),” said ANC Secretary General Simon Gikuru.
He termed as derogatory and shameful remarks, saying they were against the spirit of Kenya Kwanza as demonstrated by the principals.
“We hereby demand an immediate public withdrawal of the remarks and sentiments by the UDA Party and a clarification for the Kenya Kwanza supporters that these sentiments do not represent the official position of UDA Party and that six-piece voting pattern means voting any Kenya Kwanza Coalition party candidates.”
“Such reckless statements negatively affect the candidature of the Kenya Kwanza Presidential Candidate H.E William Samoei Ruto to the advantage of our opponents as it could lead to voter apathy,” added Mr Gikuru.
UDA Chairman Johnson Muthama however, noted that the coalition will continue fostering dialogue to enhance unity, adding that election challenges were also facing their opponents in Azimio
“We recognise that having two candidates from different parties running against each other is very costly. We have experience on what happens when you have two candidates in one elective position but with two different tickets. It’s very dangerous,” Mr Muthama said.
He said the coalition will keep on talking and urging its supporters and aspirants to be vigilant and wise enough not to allow democracy to be eroded.
Mr Nyakera, who is eying the Murang’a gubernatorial seat against UDA’s senator Irungu Kang’ata said the coalition should be guided by the contents of its agreement signed on April 12.
“In the coalition documents we signed there was no zoning and each of the political parties in Kenya Kwanza were to run on equal footing.
“As such, any sentiments as expressed by UDA that the six piece vote should be embraced means zoning which was not the case and must be resisted,” said Mr Nyakera who got an endorsement from ANC Murang’a gubernatorial candidate Dr Michael Gatogo who stepped down for him to run against Mr Kang’ata of UDA.
He went on: “These statements were completely out of taste and UDA should give a public apology. We demand for a coalition six piece and not UDA six piece.”
But Mr Kang’ata claimed that whereasa democracy ought to be encouraged in the coalition, there were “Azimio moles in Kenya Kwanza and we shall deal with them appropriately.”
“Their intention is to wreck UDA from within and aid the opposition,” claimed Mr Kang’ata.
"Don't push us to the wall. There is no monopoly of decisions and we have several options," she said.
“Instead of all of us speaking as Kenya Kwanza, UDA is speaking as UDA. This is shocking.
We agreed that our principals come together to foster unity. It is our unity that will make us win the presidency. There should be no six piece, let everyone fight for their space within,” Ms Hamida said.
