President Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga have formed a 10-member team to spearhead coalition talks between the Orange party and Jubilee in a complete turnaround for parties that three years ago were bitter political rivals after the controversial 2017 presidential election.
Five negotiators will represent each party while the respective Jubilee and ODM executive directors are poised to be the joint secretaries. Jubilee will be represented in the talks by its vice-chairman David Murathe, secretary-general Raphael Tuju, National Assembly Majority Whip Emmanuel Wangwe, Igembe North MP Maoka Maore and Samburu West MP Naisula Lesuuda.
On the ODM side, there is party chairman John Mbadi, secretary-general Edwin Sifuna, National Assembly Minority Whip Junet Mohamed, nominated Senator Agnes Zani and Kisii women representative Janet Ong’era.
Sources told the Sunday Nation that the two principals have given the 10-member team just 14 days to present a report on the mechanisms and modalities of Jubilee and ODM partnering to form a coalition. The idea is to transform the March 2018 ‘handshake’ into a political movement.
Those involved in the talks say the general thinking is for a mega party like NARC of 2002 on whose platform former President Mwai Kibaki used to win the elections after opposition parties came together to support one of them over then-President Daniel arap Moi’s handpicked preferred successor, Mr Kenyatta.
“We want to form a coalition that resembles the NARC of 2002 that will represent each region of this country. In the last eight years, the country has been evenly split between Jubilee and ODM. Now these parties are coming together meaning the country is coming together,” said Mr Mohamed.
But Deputy President William Ruto yesterday vowed to defeat the coalition being crafted by President Kenyatta and Mr Odinga. He dismissed a political union of the two principals as a tribal gathering.
“Now we have heard that they want to unite ODM and Jubilee. Let them know we are not bothered. We have our own hustlers’ party that has no tribal or regional boundaries…We are well-prepared and we will beat them,” he said.
The revelation of ongoing coalition talks and the subsequent formation of teams has raised questions about the fate of the other ‘handshake’ partners namely Kalonzo Musyoka of Wiper, Musalia Mudavadi of Amani National Congress (ANC) and Gideon Moi of Kanu.
In the coming days, both ODM and Jubilee say they want to seek the endorsement and ownership of the coalition talks by their respective party organs.
Following the revelation about ongoing coalition talks, other Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) and ‘handshake’ partners who are in the One Kenya Alliance (OKA) were said to be fuming. One of them reportedly called senior Jubilee official to complain that President Kenyatta has been taking them for a ride when he seems to have settled on Mr Odinga as his preferred candidate.
Mr Kenyatta has in the past week indicated that he is open to supporting one of the ‘handshake’ partners for the presidency if they can first agree amongst themselves on who to support. That sparked a scramble for attention among the partners.
According to Mr Tuju, no one is being left behind but the ODM-Jubilee alliance is being given priority because of the strong bond between the President and Mr Odinga.
“We have always had the blessings of President Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga, that’s why we work together in Parliament supporting various motions and Bills together. We have their express permission. If other parties express that willingness to be in an alliance with Jubilee and ODM, then we will be ready to have them on the table,” said Mr Tuju.
But ANC chairman Kelvin Lunani says they too are not interested in working with ODM and that the coalition talks with Jubilee mean little to Mr Mudavadi’s party.
“There is are a lot of realignments and if ODM feels it is navigating its way then that is fine. But as ANC we are focused on grassroots recruitment, identifying potential candidates and talking to like-minded parties with the bottom-line being that Musalia Mudavadi will be on the ballot in 2022. ODM-Jubilee talks, if they are there, mean little to us because ODM is not honest people. I don’t see how anybody is going to trust them anymore,” he said.
ODM’s Mr Mohamed, however, maintains that the party will not hold brief for other parties and their NASA coalition partners can either come to the negotiating table or be left behind.
“The naysayers and people who were expecting a betrayal are now shocked and they are now looking for all manner of excuses. This is an ODM-Jubilee affair and right now we have some work to be done,” he said.
Besides the issue of how to deal with the other ‘handshake’ partners, ODM and Jubilee also have to contend with the existing coalitions. ODM belongs to the NASA coalition which faced off with Jubilee in 2017 and lapses in 2022. Jubilee on the other hand has a coalition agreement with Kanu and a cooperation deal with Wiper. The Political Parties Act bars a party from being in more than one coalition at a time.
For ODM or Jubilee to enter a coalition, they would both have to first disband the coalitions they currently belong to before moving to a new coalition. NASA coalition currently provides that the coalition would be declared disbanded if three or more members exit. NASA members are ODM, Wiper, ANC, Chama cha Mashinani and Ford Kenya. None of the parties has approached the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties to notify it of their intention to leave the coalition.
Mr Mohamed, however, says they must start preparing early ahead of 2022 and in any case, he says NASA now exists in name only.
“We were in CORD in 2013 and NASA in 2017. Most likely we will be in another one in 2022. For now, NASA is only existing in Parliament. Outside Parliament, for all intents and purposes, it is not functioning. So we have to get another vehicle,” said Mr Mohamed.
The coalition talks and President Kenyatta’s signal that he would be open to supporting one of the NASA chiefs for president in 2022 has gained a certain measure of urgency with just about 14 months to the next General Election in 2022.
