Azimio la Umoja leader Raila Odinga’s camp Tuesday reacted with fury over a storm kicked up by Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka, who cited a secret 2017 elections pact that he said bound the former Prime Minister to back him for the top job in August.
But the Odinga camp had one message: Mr Musyoka to unconditionally board the Azimio train, or be left at the station.
The secret pact, Mr Musyoka said, was outside the National Super Alliance (Nasa) coalition agreement and bound Mr Odinga, whether he won or lost in the 2017 election.
In the agreement signed between Mr Odinga, Mr Musyoka, Prof Makau Mutua and Prof Kivutha Kibwana, Prof Mutua was named as its sole depository, and was required to reveal its contents in case of an “irreparable material breach”, which Mr Musyoka says was the case with the unveiling of Mr Odinga as the ODM presidential candidate.
Prof Mutua yesterday refused to confirm the existence of the pact, but insisted that even if it existed, it would have died with the dissolution of Nasa last year.
“It is of no use really in the current political dispensation and the political climate for us to litigate discussions that took place in 2017 — five years ago. What we need to do, and what Mr Musyoka needs to do, is to come to the table and negotiate with Mr Odinga in the context of Azimio and find a place for himself within this broad umbrella that we are building,” Prof Mutua told the Nation .
In a bare-knuckle attack on the Wiper leader, Prof Mutua, who is among Mr Odinga’s strategists, said: “We are going to win the elections on August 9, whether Mr Musyoka joins us or not.”
The Azimio train, he said, was taking off and Mr Musyoka should quickly board.
“It is a forgone conclusion that Mr Odinga will be the presidential candidate of Azimio and the other main presidential candidate in this country being Mr Ruto (Deputy President). Mr Musyoka ought to contemplate that and then negotiate with that understanding in mind … It is a train that is leaving the station and we would like him to come on board,” he said.
In an interview, Prof Mutua was clear — and insisted, on the record — on whose behalf he was speaking.
“We are open-minded and I should say that I speak here to you now as the spokesperson for Mr Odinga’s campaign and so what I’m telling you is not my personal illuminations or wishes, it is the official position of Mr Odinga,” he said.
In what renewed the rivalries in the defunct Nasa in which Mr Odinga, Mr Musyoka, Amani National Congress (ANC) leader Musalia Mudavadi, Ford-Kenya’s Moses Wetang’ula and Chama Cha Mashinani (CCM) leader Isaac Ruto were members, the Wiper leader yesterday said Mr Odinga has no option but to back his bid.
Mr Musyoka, who was flanked by his political allies; senators Mutula Kilonzo Jr (Makueni) and Enoch Wambua (Kitui), and Makueni MP Dan Maanzo, among other Wiper leaders, kicked up a storm when he asked Mr Odinga to honour the deal and back his bid in the August 9 elections, to address the trust deficit.
“By accepting nomination of the Orange Democratic Movement to run as president for the 5th time, I believe my brother Hon. Raila Odinga has committed an irreparable material breach of this agreement,” Mr Musyoka said at the Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka (SKM) command centre in Nairobi yesterday.
“My brother has the option of abiding by the terms of this live binding, legal agreement and thereby emerging as a true, national, regional and indeed, continental democratic hero, or he chooses to act in utter defiance and repudiation of the agreement, and thereby compound the trust deficit.”
According to the agreement provided to the media, Mr Odinga, referred to as principal ‘H’, would be the Nasa presidential nominee and that Mr Musyoka, named principal ‘Q’, would be his running mate.
“This agreement will remain valid until the 2022 elections, whether or not Nasa wins the 2017 presidential elections,” it states in part.
It adds that the agreement would be executed in quadruplicate, with one original copy each for Mr Odinga, Mr Musyoka, Prof Kibwana and Prof Mutua.
“Prof Mutua's original copy shall be the final, true, authentic, and dispositive copy of this agreement. In case of a dispute, Prof Mutua will be the sole depository for this agreement. This agreement shall only be publicly divulged with the comment and concurrence of all the parties,” says the agreement, which Mr Musyoka supplied to the media.
Like Prof Mutua, Prof Kibwana Tuesday said the agreement cannot hold water without the context of Nasa, which he noted had since died.
“If they parted ways, you cannot then say there is a political thing bringing them together. The moment there is no Nasa, you cannot enforce any agreement which was based on their being together as Nasa,” Prof Kibwana said.
“There was also another agreement with all the principals where Raila said he was going to serve only one term and then one of them would get his support. So those two agreements seem to contradict (one another). Even if Nasa had continued, it was not automatic that Kalonzo was going to be the candidate because the other principals were also going to be players as the original agreement said Mr Odinga would serve for one term and back one of them.”
He questioned whether Mr Musyoka was capable of winning the August election even if Mr Odinga were to endorse him.
“It’s better for him to go where he wants if he doesn’t want to be in Azimio, instead of issuing ultimatums and half-truths. He is simply saying that if Raila will not make him the presidential candidate then he will not work with him,” said Prof Kibwana.
But a livid Senator Wambua insisted that Mr Odinga must acknowledge the existence of the agreement with Mr Musyoka, and that he must admit that he had breached it.
Warning that failure to do so would be “the ultimate deal breaker”, Mr Wambua said Mr Odinga had acted in bad faith against Mr Musyoka, and that Wiper would stand its ground now “to make a contribution to enhancing political hygiene in this country”.
Mr Wambua’s argument is predicated upon a fuzzy platform of decency and virtue. He wonders how a leader who reneges on a legal agreement would be expected to lead a nation, and why anyone should trust Mr Odinga to sign and uphold national and international agreements and treaties if he cannot honour a simple pact with an individual.
“There is a binding legal agreement between Mr Odinga and Mr Musyoka and it was witnessed by two professors, Makau Mutua and Kivutha Kibwana,” said Mr Wambua, adding that the deal was “explicit that Mr Raila would support Mr Musyoka” in this year’s elections.
He accused Mr Odinga of pretending that the document does not exist and insisted that the mistrust surrounding that agreement must “have a place in present-day negotiations”.
This hard-line position, coupled with Mr Musyoka’s own insistence that he will not play second fiddle to anyone, least of all Mr Odinga, is expected to muddy the waters for Azimio coalition negotiators, who had hoped on bagging the Wiper leader and bolstering Mr Odinga’s chances of beating Dr Ruto at the polls in August.
It is also an admission that there has been lingering mistrust between the two former Nasa principals who were once united by the common goal of stopping President Kenyatta at the ballot.
Speaking of the mistrust, Mr Wambua wondered: “What is the guarantee that whatever we will agree today will not be breached tomorrow?”
That rhetorical question underpins the dishonour of political deal-making and admits the fickleness of agreements between politicians, who are known to have no qualms breaking ties and shifting loyalties.
As Mr Wambua promised a bruising battle against the “deceit” of the Raila camp, Mr Mudavadi, speaking to the Daily Nation from the US where he is on tour with Dr Ruto, said he was “surprised” to learn of the existence of a secret agreement between his two former co-principals in Nasa.
“I was only aware of the agreement we all signed as Nasa principals,” said Mr Mudavadi, who jumped from the Nasa coalition to Dr Ruto’s side in January this year. “It’s unbelievable that our colleagues could go behind our backs to sign their own agreement.”
He added that he only learnt of the secret deal between Mr Musyoka and Mr Odinga Tuesday, during the Wiper leader’s press conference, but admitted that there had been “rumours of a secret deal between the two”.
Former Ford-Kenya Secretary-General Eseli Simiyu who was a member of the Nasa apex organ, representing Mr Wetang’ula, pointed out that they were not aware of the secret agreement between the two principals.
“This is a question of betrayal. If the secret agreement really exists, then it means Kalonzo betrayed the other members of Nasa. If he went signing something under the table with Raila, it means he was also betraying his colleagues in Nasa. Therefore, Kalonzo should be the last person to complain about people short-changing him about trust and liability,” said Dr Eseli, who is now Democratic Action Party–Kenya (DAP-K) secretary-general.
He also questioned what the other more than 10 parties supporting Mr Odinga, and whose national delegates have endorsed him, would do should he agree to back Mr Musyoka.
“Our support for Raila as the Azimio flagbearer has not changed. Whether Kalonzo is coming up with those shenanigans, our position as DAP-K has not and will not change,” added Dr Eseli.
Prof Kibwana cast aspersions on the possibility of Mr Musyoka winning the August elections if he were to be unveiled as flagbearer.
“Even if we have to assume that Raila must support him; does he ask himself whether he can win? In the current context you have to ask yourself who has the following to win the August election.
“Unless the idea is to be a candidate so that Azimio loses. The reality check is that all the polls have projected Raila as the best bet to fly the Azimio flag,” Prof Kibwana said.
