President Uhuru Kenyatta’s efforts to reunite ODM leader Raila Odinga and the One Kenya Alliance principals have failed to bear fruit, it has been revealed.
On Tuesday, August 10, the Head of State held a meeting with the opposition leaders Raila Odinga (ODM), Gideon Moi (KANU), Musalia Mudavadi (ANC) Kalonzo Musyoka (Wiper), Moses Wetang’ula (Ford Kenya), and Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya at State Mombasa in a fresh bid to reunite them.
Multiple sources revealed that Uhuru begged Mudavadi, Moi, Kalonzo, and Wetang’ula to drop their bids in favor of his Handshake counterpart Raila Odinga.
Kivumbi.co.ke understands that the four maintained their position that they will only work with the former Prime Minister on a condition that he joins them as an equal partner.
“We maintain that our irreducible minimum is that we will only have Raila as our equal partner. We said we could not make a decision on whether to back Raila since such decisions must be ratified by party organs,” a source who attended the meeting said as quoted by the People Daily Newspaper.
It is alleged that the One Kenya Alliance principals jointly agreed that they would not allow Raila to be their preferred presidential flag bearer should they reach an agreement to forge a working relationship ahead of the crucial 2022 presidential elections.
They emphasized that it was Raila’s turn to reciprocate their previous support to him by backing one of them as the next President to face off with Deputy President William Ruto who is seen as one of the front runners.
“We were unanimous that we cannot cede ground to Raila Odinga. It is our opinion that he should reciprocate our support towards him,” the source added.
During the last General Election, Mudavadi, Kalonzo, and Wetang’ula shelved their presidential ambitions and drummed up support for Raila Odinga under the recently disbanded National Super Alliance (NASA) coalition on condition that Odinga would support one of them in 2022.
In one of his latest media interviews, Raila Odinga refuted claims by other former NASA principals that he was to support them in 2022 adding that he still has the strenght to wrestle with DP Ruto.
