OKA now demands Raila running mate post in Azimio deal

OKA leaders are reportedly stringing together what they expect to agree to at the start of a series of activities meant to explain to their members the decision to support Mr Odinga as the Azimio la Umoja flagbearer.

Reports have suggested that Jubilee and ODM had agreed to let the ruling party produce the Nairobi gubernatorial candidate, while the Orange party gets the running mate, but this could change depending on what position OKA stakes its claim.

It is these demands that they will be presenting to the ODM leader and President Uhuru Kenyatta as their pre-conditions to supporting the former Prime Minister as the joint presidential candidate of the Azimio la Umoja Movement.

Bargaining strength

OKA feels it will be negotiating from a position of strength as Azimio looks desperate for a strong partner to counter Deputy President William Ruto’s partnership with ANC’s Musalia Mudavadi and Ford Kenya’s Moses Wetang’ula under the Kenya Kwanza Coalition.

As such, there is optimism within the nascent coalition that they can extract a lot of concessions from the President and Mr Odinga.

It also emerged that the Azimio team delayed registering the coalition last week as they had promised to give OKA time to organise themselves before they can board the Azimio bus.

OKA principals Kalonzo Musyoka (Wiper), Martha Karua (Narc Kenya), Gideon Moi (Kanu) and Cyrus Jirongo (United Democratic Party) signed an agreement to operate under the alliance’s umbrella.

Kenya Kwanza ruled out

During the ceremony, the four ruled out working with the Kenya Kwanza alliance, which brings together Deputy President William Ruto, ANC’s Musalia Mudavadi and Ford Kenya’s Moses Wetang’ula.

Courtesy of the recently enacted amendments to the Political Parties Act, they plan to negotiate with Azimio la Umoja as OKA rather than as individual parties. All the constituent parties have scheduled their National Executive Committee (NEC) meetings, with most planned for Tuesday.

Narc Kenya Executive director Daniel Taabu confirmed the party will hold its NEC on Tuesday. “This is the season of politics and this meeting offers us the opportunity to talk about our future,” he said.

Through Secretary General Shakila Abdallah, Wiper also confirmed that it has scheduled a NEC meeting this week.

“There is a NEC meeting, which is a normal party meeting, and we have our agenda to discuss as a party," she said as she sought to downplay any expectations.

Kanu meeting

Kanu, through Tiaty MP William Kamket and Secretary for Political Affairs Fred Okang’o, also confirmed the party leadership will be meeting.

“The agenda is to give the party leaders endorsements to go and partner with other formations,” said Mr Okang’o.

UDP, meanwhile, has scheduled a National Delegates Congress (NDC) for February 24, just a day before ODM and Jubilee start their respective conventions on February 25-26.

In an advertisement in a section of the media yesterday, Secretary General Bernard Wafukho stated that the NDC will be to review, ratify, modify, alter or rescind any coalition agreements besides organising for party elections.

“What the principals are doing is allow their respective NECs to make the decision. These meetings should give a clear roadmap as to what to do, how and when,” Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo said.

Operating as a unit

Sources told the Nation that after the NEC meetings, each party will submit its decisions to OKA principals. The decisions will be distilled, harmonised and incorporated as the coalition agreement to be submitted to the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties as required by law.

It is this agreement that will be forwarded to the President and Mr Odinga forming part of the OKA demands as a prerequisite for joining Azimio. The OKA coalition agreement will be deposited with the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP) by February 28.

Sources say the group is staking its claim on the running mate position as its irreducible minimum plus a 50 per cent share of the government should Azimio win in the August 9 election.

 “Power-sharing matrix comes in all forms. You can already tell what OKA will produce going by the happenings across the country. They know the value OKA will be bringing. Basically, that (the running mate position) is one of them,” an official of one of the parties told Sunday Nation on condition his identity is not revealed discussing internal deliberations of the nascent coalition.

Political zoning

The four leaders have also agreed on the principle of political zoning where they will be allowed to maintain their spheres of influence.

Under this arrangement, no coalition partner will field candidates in areas deemed to be a stronghold of a partner. “Zoning will depend on how we agree because each party, as much as we say they are national parties, they have got regional strengths,” said Mr Okang’o.

Signs of the impending mega coalition were revealed when President Kenyatta hosted the Jubilee Party Parliamentary Group at State House, Nairobi, on Friday. At the meeting, the President promised to revamp the party after the recent exodus to UDA, promising to seek out like-minded entities for a possible future coalition.

Businessman Jimi Wanjigi, who had started holding joint rallies with OKA, was kicked out because he had been opposing the move to have the alliance work together with Azimio.

Negotiating table

The revelations come in the wake of reports that both Mr Odinga and Mr Musyoka have put together a team that is working on the finer details of the coalition between them.

Those involved in the talks include lawyer Paul Mwangi, who is representing Mr Odinga, and Mr Ngovi Kitau, who served as Kenya’s ambassador to South Korea, representing Mr Musyoka.

At the same time, sources told the Nation that after agreeing in principle to work with Azimio, the OKA principals agreed to scale down their political activities until the deal is formalised. This weekend, for example, the principals largely had their separate, small-scale events, including attending funerals and meeting party officials.

 “For the sake of the big guy (President Kenyatta), you cannot afford to hold rallies because they might be forced to make some declarations in these rallies that might jeopardise the talks,” said a source within OKA on the scaling down of rallies.

Mr Musyoka, for instance, will be attending a church service in Huruma, Nairobi, today (Sunday) and thereafter hold a few roadside rallies during which, the Nation understands, he will start preparing his supporters for the move to work with Azimio.

The former vice president had in the past said he could not see himself supporting Mr Odinga for the third time in a row after having done so in 2013 and 2017.

"It will be unthinkable to support Mr Odinga for the third time. I will be the most stupid person to once again support his bid without a measure of reciprocity," Mr Musyoka said in June last year.

But now, the Nation understands that the OKA affiliates, especially Wiper, will be explaining to their supporters that they are in Azimio out of respect for President Kenyatta.

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