One Kenya Alliance (OKA) has begun negotiations with their counterparts in the Azimio la Umoja movement for a possible coalition agreement that will see the two sides field one presidential candidate in the coming elections, KANU national chairman Gideon Moi has said.
On Tuesday, Gideon told aspirants at the party’s national headquarters in Nairobi that OKA principals led by him, Martha Karua (Narc Kenya), Kalonzo Musyoka (Wiper), and Cyrus Jirongo (UDP) have begun negotiating with Azimio as equal partners in order to find the best candidate to fly the coalition’s flag.
“At the moment, we are negotiating with our friends from the other side. Negotiations between us are ongoing. They (Azimio) already have their presidential candidate, we (OKA) will also choose our presidential candidate before we meet to agree on one candidate who will present us in the August elections,” Moi said.
Gideon’s declaration comes days after other OKA leaders said at a gathering in Kakamega that the time was right for them to join Raila Odinga’s team.
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According to reports, OKA intends to join the Azimio la Umoja campaign as part of a working partnership with the Jubilee party.
According to sources, OKA will join Azimio, but will not sign an agreement with Raila. Instead, the coalition will sign an agreement with the Jubilee party due to existing mistrust issues between ODM and Wiper.
Wiper and ODM belonged to the National Super Alliance (NASA) which fell out shortly after the 2017 elections.
“Talks are ongoing with Azimio and Jubilee and we are not cowards and nobody will not be cowed,” Jirongo said.
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Before joining the Azimio camp, OKA is believed to have stated some irreducible minimums that must be met.
Over the weekend, governors Alfred Mutua (Machakos), Charity Ngilu (Kitui) and Kivutha Kibwana (Makueni) claimed Kalonzo had demanded billions of shillings from the Azimio leader before jumping ship.
“We are ready to work with whoever is willing to change the lives of Kenyans, but there are some people who have decided to sit on the fence and we know they are bargaining for money. We know they have asked for Sh3 billion to sell our Kamba community for their own interests,” said Mutua.
But according to Makueni MP Dan Maanzo, the Wiper leader had not issued any monetary demands saying Raila must first acknowledge there was an existing agreement he was going to support Kalonzo.
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“There is nothing like that. He is not that kind of a person who asks for money. We want Raila to come personally and tell our people why he cannot support him,” said Maanzo.
He called the three governors “clowns” who were just interested in their own interests and said they had no support on the ground.
“Raila must stop trusting brokers and come to the ground and speak to the people,” Maanzo added.
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