Nairobi: Ford-Kenya and ANC have dared ODM leader Raila Odinga to a 2022 State House contest. This came a day after Odinga described a planned merger between Moses Wetang’ula’s Ford-Kenya and Musalia Mudavadi’s Amani National Congress as tribal. Wetang’ula described Odinga’s stand as hypocritical and a sign he was panicking ahead of the 2022 election.
Odinga had on Sunday dismissed “politicians spearheading tribal politics by calling for unity of some regions”, a comment that the two parties say only points to his 2022 ambitions they said would be severely hurt by the merger bid. “For Raila, it is never tribal when Luo Nyanza stands solidly behind him. But when other communities stand behind their leaders, it is tribal. What a contradiction. I had warned him that our divorce will be noisy and messy. Now, he is feeling the heat,” Wetang’ula said. “It is business unusual for Raila in Western. The crowds have dwindled, the enthusiasm with which he used to be welcomed is no more and he is now a man that is not only conflicted, but under siege from himself. I can see him running in 2022, and we will meet him in the field.”
Odinga, Mudavadi and Wetang’ula are co-principals in Nasa, an outfit formed in January 2017 and which had Odinga used for his presidential bid with Wiper party’s Kalonzo Musyoka as his running mate. But after the March 9 handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and Odinga – a deal made without the knowledge of the other three principals – Nasa has disintegrated. Wetang’ula lost his Senate minority leader post to ODM’s James Orengo and Musyoka went on a rebranding spree, acquiring new party headquarters, and reaching out to other parties for possible talks on his State House bid.
ANC-Ford Kenya merger
On Monday, Wetang’ula suggested that the ANC-Ford-Kenya merger might include Musyoka’s Wiper in future, saying they had not left them out as he was a partner. “When we were campaigning for him, dedicating all our time, did he not know our tribe?” asked Wetang’ula. The 10-member merger task force, co-chaired by Ford-Kenya Deputy Party Leader Boni Khalwale and ANC Secretary-General Barrack Muluka, has already come up with a name for the proposed new party and agreed on dates to unveil it.
Tribalism
“Raila Odinga should stop thinking he will own the Luhyas. He has no right to talk about tribalism. Right now, he must get off his high horse,” Muluka said. Khalwale said: “What he has said just confirms that he will be on the ballot in 2022. We have moved out of his shadow and he should forget the Luhya vote. He has been a beneficiary of Luhya disunity for far too long. The ANC-Ford-Kenya merger is unstoppable.”
