Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka says he will only join Raila if the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) boss backs him up for the 2022 presidential bid.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Kalonzo gave out irreducible minimums saying the NASA document is legally binding and that Raila should honour the agreement he signed back in 2017.
The agreement read partly that “Principal H (Raila) agrees in a public MOU to serve one term and publicly endorse Principal Q (Kalanzo) as the presidential candidate for 2022.”
However, those close to ODM leader Raila Odinga argue that Azimio la Umoja Movement is a new outfit and that Kalonzo should join without dishing out demands. Further, they say that NASA was long dissolved and Raila did not make it to presidency, so the deal is not valid.
However Kalonzo insists that Raila should honour the agreement between the two, whether he became president or not in the 2017 elections. “Raila Odinga has an option of abiding by the terms of this binding agreement or has the option of choosing to act in utter defiance of the agreement and thereby compounding the trust deficit,” Kalonzo stated. The Wiper boss is allegedly pushing for a coalition deal rather than a party to party agreement.
Meanwhile, Nark Kenya asked for more time to familiarize and crutinize the OKA party agreement proposal few hours after Kalonzo’s press conference. Other OKA partners, Gideon Moi of KANU and Cyrus Jirongo of UDP have not yet commented on the issue.