Deal with UDF returns to haunt Uhuru, Ruto

By Andrew Teyie and Moses Njagih

NAIROBI, KENYA: Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi’s exit from the Jubilee Alliance is far from settled.

Acting Registrar of Political Parties Lucy Ndung’u is scheduled to meet officials of The National Alliance (TNA), United Republican Party (URP), and United Democratic Forum (UDF) on Monday over the matter.

But it is unclear if the meeting called by Ms Ndung’u will kick off after an MP close to Ruto dismissed it as a “sideshow”.

The Standard established that a clause in the addendum that Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta’s TNA, Eldoret North MP William Ruto’s URP and Musalia Mudavadi’s side lodged with the Registrar of Political Parties has implications on their presidential ambitions.

Not only does it override the earlier agreement deposited by TNA and URP, but it also raises questions over the manner of UDF’s declared exit from the alliance.

The clause pegged at the end of the document gives the TNA, URP, UDF Addendum powers over the earlier document signed by TNA and URP at Jeevanjee Gardens.

The document which reconstitutes TNA/URP coalition to include UDF as a partner, states among others:” In case of inconsistency between the Initial Agreement and this Addendum, the contents of this Addendum shall prevail”.

Based on complaints

Ndung’u asked officials of TNA, URP and UDF to meet with her today to resolve the matter after UDF petitioned the Political Parties Tribunal over the breach of coalition.

On Saturday, Mrs Ndung’u confirmed calling the meeting, but declined to give details, only saying that it is tied to the issues raised by UDF in its complaint of breach of agreement.

“I will not discuss details of the planned meeting tomorrow (today) but it will be based on the complaints raised by UDF in its letter,” said Ndung’u when contacted on phone.

The addendum titled “Coalition Agreement for National Healing and Reconciliation, Inclusiveness and Prosperity” was signed on December 4 and lodged with the acting Registrar on the same day, the deadline for pre-election coalition pacts.

The document in our possession states that the coalition can only be dissolved through mutual consent or after an irreconcilable breach filed and heard by Jubilee’s dispute resolution team comprising members from the three parties and coalition partners.

The document amends clause 8 of the TNA/URP document on how to resolve disputes in Jubilee. It goes ahead to set up a dispute resolution team comprising five individuals, one each from TNA, URP and UDF.

Two others were to come from coalition partner parties to make a committee of five. The team of five was to come up with the chairman. However, the coalition did not survive long enough to appoint members of the team.

According to the document, the dispute team would deliberate and ask the offending partner to rectify the breach. However, it gives other options for coalition partners’ parting off ways.

“Where the Dispute Resolution Council finds that there has been fundamental breach and or frustration of this Agreement then the Council shall either direct that the Coalition Partner in breach rectify the breach within such time as may be stipulated or it may determine that the Agreement is irreparably frustrated, in which case the aggrieved Party shall be at liberty to withdraw from the Coalition upon service of a three (3) months written notice”, states clause 10(ii).

The amended clause in the Addendum further states: “Upon expiry of the notice period the aggrieved coalition Partner shall be at liberty to withdraw from the Coalition by informing the other Parties of the same in writing”.

The document, which reconstitutes TNA/URP coalition to include UDF as a partner, states among others:” In case of inconsistency between the Initial Agreement and this Addendum, the contents of this Addendum shall prevail”.

The implication is that unless UDF applies to leave the Union through mutual consent or “fundamental breach or feels frustration” after its grievances have been tabled and heard by Jubilee’s dispute resolution team, the coalition still stands, complicating their activities as a union. The dispute resolution team was not in place when the parties disagreed.

Uhuru and Ruto later declared they had parted ways with Musalia and UDF through mutual consent, and went ahead to nominate Uhuru as their coalition’s Presidential candidate.

On Saturday, however, Ruto’s URP said it would not send any representatives to the meeting.

URP spokesman Aden Duale said the party was not interested with the arbitration process called by the registrar of Political parties.

He described the proposed meeting as a “sideshow” and declared that they would not be sending representatives. “ We are not in that business and our mission is to deliver the presidency in the March 4 election. TNA and URP have a presidential candidate and a running mate and we are now working on rolling out campaigns to ensure we deliver the presidency. Anything short of that to us are sideshows and we will not engage in them.

He wondered why UDF was interested in the arbitration process yet Mudavadi announced on January 4 that he would launch his presidential bid and unveil a running mate.

Rejoin team

“TNA and URP have already moved on after the disagreement with UDF as Mudavadi did not want a competitive process in picking a flag bearer. It is up to them to rejoin our team and back Uhuru and Ruto or they contest on their own,” added Duale.

On Saturday UDF insisted that despite writing to Ndung’u, it was not fighting to be re-incorporated into the Jubilee Alliance.

The party’s Secretary General, Mr. Dan Ameyo, said they wrote to the acting Registrar to set a precedent so that in future parties would respect the sanctity of coalition agreements.

“Let no one assume that we are fighting so that we can be taken back into the Jubilee Coalition,” said Ameyo.

He spoke as the party Chairman Hassan Osman announced they would hold their National Delegates Conference on January 4 at Bomas of Kenya to endorse Mudavadi as their Presidential choice.

In its letter to the acting Registrar, UDF accused TNA and URP of breaching the coalition agreement by failing to follow the correct process of ending their partnership.

But TNA Secretary General Onyango Oloo argued that Mudavadi pulled UDF out of the coalition by mutual consent.

Oloo confirmed that TNA had received the Registrar’s summons and said they would attend the meeting.

“The Registrar is the custodian of all coalition instruments and we hope that she will make an informed decision on this case in the interest of Kenyans and all the three political parties. We hope the law will prevail,” said Oloo.

The TNA official was conciliatory saying they wanted to ensure that they parted ways with their former ally (UDF) amicably.

“We do not want to go our different ways in acrimony as we may need together in future. We want to go our different ways as friends and we wish them well going forward,” said Oloo.

The union ran into trouble less than a fortnight ago after TNA’s Uhuru Kenyatta disowned another document he signed ceding his position as the coalition’s flag bearer to UDF’s Musalia Mudavadi.

Uhuru, Ruto, Republican Council’s Najib Balala and Chirau Mwakwere visited Musalia’s Riverside home to initiate the talks that resulted in signing of the secret deal and the Addendum. Ruto was to remain as the running mate of Musalia in that deal.

Uhuru later claimed he was coerced into signing the secret deal by powerful forces he refereed to as mashetani (demons).

— Additional reporting and Vitalis Kimutai