By WILFRED AYAGA

Kenya: The National Alliance (TNA) responded to weekend’s call for mass demonstrations over the controversial Anglo Leasing payments by rival party CORD and promised to shoot down impeachment Motion against President Uhuru Kenyatta.

TNA also blamed former Attorney General Amos Wako and former ministers Musalia Mudavadi and Chris Obure for the dubious Anglo Leasing contracts.

“The deals involving First Mercantile and Universal Satspace were signed in July 2002 by Transport and Finance ministries. Mudavadi was Transport minister, Obure was Finance minister and Amos Wako was the Attorney General. Any attempt to take over the Government other than through lawful means amounts to treason. We are not paying because we like it, but we would like to save Kenyans the pain of paying an extra Sh25 billion as accrued interest,” TNA Chairman Onyango Oloo told a press conference yesterday.

MPs and political leaders allied to the party called separate press conferences during which they poured cold water on CORD leaders who last Sunday threatened to call people out into the streets to protest the payments, which have the backing of President Kenyatta.

During the Sunday rally, CORD threatened to impeach the President, stating that his decision to make the payments was against the wishes of majority.

The leaders promised to start a series of countrywide rallies after their leader Raila Odinga, currently in the US, returns to the country.

Ready for motion

CORD’s sentiments, however, appear to have rubbed TNA the wrong way with the Senate Majority Leader Kithure Kindiki and House Majority Whip Katoo ole Metito leading 14 MPs and senators in denouncing the calls by the Opposition.

The MPs, who included Kimani Ichung’wa (Kikuyu), Mithika Linturi (Igembe South), Mary Wambui (Othaya), Jude Njomo (Kiambu Town) and senators Charles Keter(Kericho) and Naisula Lesuda (nominated) dared the Opposition to table the impeachment Motion.

“We are ready to debate the Motion if it comes. However, they should know that in the law it is impossible to impeach the President. This is because they have no grounds to do so and also because the President is not just the chairman of some football club which they can just remove. He has members in both houses,” said Kindiki.

“What we saw in Kibera was a comedy show. What we are telling them now is that we are ready for the Motion and they can bring it on,” Ichung’wa said.

The sentiments were made at the same time that Oloo was addressing another press conference at the TNA headquarters, accompanied by a State House official Patrick Ngatia. Ngatia is the Director of Liaison at State House. Also present was the party’s executive director, Joseph Mathai.

They turned the heat on CORD saying the people close to the Opposition were in Government when the payments were signed. It also claimed that utterances made by the CORD leaders that they plan to take over the government bordered on treason.

Amid the back and forth between CORD and TNA, leaders allied to the URP, which is an affiliate of the Jubilee coalition, have kept a studious slice over the matter.