KALONZO OUT OF NASA JUST FOUR MONTHS TO ELECTION, RAILA IN TROUBLE

Kalonzo is 7 days to quit NASA or given flagship. PHOTO COURTESY

Wiper leader have stuck to their guns in their push for Kalonzo Musyoka to be named the flag-bearer of the National Super Alliance (Nasa).

On Wednesday, Mr Musyoka’s henchman and National Assembly Minority Leader Francis Nyenze said it would doom the alliance if the Wiper leader is denied the ticket.

2013 MoU

“This is the last straw that will break the camel's back. If Kalonzo is not going to be the presidential candidate, Nasa will not exist anymore,” he told reporters at Parliament in Nairobi.

The party wants Orange Democratic Movement leader and Nasa co-principal Raila Odinga to honour the memorandum of understanding that Mr Musyoka signed with Mr Odinga.

The disputed agreement, Wiper leaders say, stipulated that Mr Odinga would be the presidential candidate in the 2013 General Election and Mr Musyoka in 2017.

Mr Nyenze said he had given Nasa a seven-day ultimatum to convene a meeting of the National Coordinating Committee to affirm the 2013 MoU otherwise Mr Musyoka would go it alone.

"The Kambas have reached an edge and if it is not Kalonzo, Wiper will go it alone. We'll not play second fiddle to anybody," he said.

Hours later, Wiper Secretary-General Hassan Omar addressed a press conference that was to be attended by Mr Musyoka.

However, Mr Musyoka left minutes before the address, saying he had to attend an urgent meeting.

Mr Omar affirmed Mr Nyenze’s statement but added that Wiper would “play inside Nasa even if Kalonzo Musyoka is not chosen to fly the Nasa flag”.     

"What is wrong with Nyenze putting our position out there?” he said.

“He is our negotiator and he has the right to speak strongly about it. We have strong faith in him. When you say there is corruption in Kenya, are you saying you are about to bolt out? No!"

He echoed Mr Nyenze’s claim that Nasa’s National Coordinating Committee has been hit by a stalemate, leading to delays in the naming of the candidate.

“We wanted a flag-bearer named by December 25. It took long. Now we are creating anxiety by dragging these things,” he said.

“There are a lot of things incidental about naming a flag-bearer. We have an urgency and Wiper is simply satisfying the urgency.”  

He criticised the media, saying they were “portraying Wiper in bad light” by singling it out in the battle for Nasa’s top ticket.                 

"Everyone makes unequivocal (statements) about their (leader) being a Nasa candidate. Why don't you say those people are about to bolt out?” he said.

“When Wiper says the exact same thing that everyone in Nasa is saying, why do we single them out? We will not play second fiddle, but we are in the coalition to stay," said Mr Omar.   

The secretary-general seemed to support the push for a consensus approach to choosing the flag-bearer.

“We failed to name a flag-bearer by the end of March. We want these principals to finish this issue. Sit at the table and come up with one name,” he said.