Karua boosts OKA morale after defections

Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka’s presidential bid received a boost after Narc Kenya leader Martha Karua joined the One Kenya Alliance (OKA). 

She has graced rallies addressed by Mr Musyoka and Kanu chairman Gideon Moi at Machakos Town and is having a joint rally with the OKA fraternity in Kirinyaga County today (Sunday January 30). 

“We are here to demonstrate that we are a thing and that we shall remain that way to the very end,” she told a charged audience at Mulu Mutisya Gardens.

The lawyer who is eyeing the Kirinyaga gubernatorial seat in the August 9 General Election said she had settled on OKA because Mr Musyoka and Mr Moi espouse principled and servant leadership which she champions. 

OKA currently comprises of Wiper, independence party Kanu and UDP which is led by veteran politician Cyrus Jirongo.

Mr Musyoka and Mr Moi commended Ms Karua for boosting the value of OKA by identifying with it.

Mr Musyoka said the coalition was wooing National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi and Meru Governor Kiraitu Muriungi.

“The way OKA is now, and even with more leaders on their way to join this coalition, everybody should know that we shall go all the way to the ballot. We shall enter into a coalition with others but we shall not be compelled to support the partners. The partners should instead support Kalonzo. There is no way I’ll keep supporting others until I am 80 years old,” Mr Musyoka said in an apparent reference to Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga whose presidential bid he backed in the 2013 and 2017 General Elections.

Ms Karua entered the OKA fray a week after Amani National Congress (ANC) leader Musalia Mudavadi and his Ford Kenya counterpart Moses Wetangula walked out of the coalition and joined Deputy President William Ruto who is also in the race to succeed President Uhuru Kenyatta.

She criticized the framing of the presidential race as a two horse race pitting Dr Ruto on one hand and Mr Odinga on the other hand, saying Kenyans will choose from a wider menu of leaders.

She exuded confidence that OKA will produce Kenya’s fifth president, exciting the audience which included Wiper and Kanu politicians and hundreds of their supporters. 

In a thinly veiled attack on Dr Ruto whose United Democratic Alliance (UDA) has not been keen on entering into coalitions with small parties in Mount Kenya region, Ms Karua said it was prudent for small parties to retain their identities when they enter into coalitions with other parties.

“Kenyans, we should not be compelled to belong to particular political parties. We are here as leaders of different parties because the constitution allows multiparty democracy. We can cooperate without dissolving our parties, we can even form government as different parties. When someone compels you to dissolve your party to form one party, know that they are hiding something from you,” she said.

Mr Moi urged the Kamba community to support Mr Musyoka’s presidential bid to the last man “the way they do it in Nyanza” as local leaders urged the community to take advantage of the ongoing voter registration to expand the size of the region’s voting bloc beyond the current 1.6 million votes to enhance Mr Musyoka’s chances of succeeding President Kenyatta.

The rally at Mulu Mutisya Gardens was punctuated by intense wrangling among Mavoko MP Patrick Makau, Transport CAS Wavinya Ndeti and Machakos Assembly Speaker Florence Mwangangi and dozens of their supporters.

The three are eyeing the Wiper ticket in their bids to succeed Dr Mutua.

Mr Musyoka has offered to sit the wrangling teams down ahead of the April deadline for party primaries.

He is toying with the idea of handpicking the party’s candidates in a negotiated democracy deal so that the antagonism among his supporters does not spoil his fortunes.

The Machakos rally marked the last day of Mr Musyoka’s three-day campaign tour in his Ukambani backyard in which he rallied the Kamba community to back his presidential bid to the last man saying he was closest to entering State House.

The tour which took Mr Musyoka to Kitui County on Thursday and Makueni County on Friday comes amid heightened speculation that his presidential ambition had become untenable following the recent shake ups in OKA.

Governors Alfred Mutua (Machakos), Charity Ngilu (Kitui) and Kivutha Kibwana (Makueni) have been urging the former vice president to join Mr Odinga’s Azimio la Umoja movement.

A defiant Mr Musyoka, however, sought to assure his voting base that recent shake ups in OKA had not dented his presidential ambition and that his stars were lining properly.

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