NASA chiefs meet today at Bomas

NASA’s National Coordinating Committee co-chairmen, from left, Sakwa Bunyasi, Johnstone Muthama, and James Orengo. They welcomed Chama Cha Mashinani party leader Isaac Ruto to the coalition. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]

The opposition National Super Alliance (NASA) principals will hold a meeting at Bomas of Kenya today.

The principals - Raila Odinga (ODM), Musalia Mudavadi (Amani), Kalonzo Musyoka (Wiper), and Moses Wetang’ula (Ford Kenya) - are expected to receive Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto into the coalition.

The meeting will be attended by all elected NASA affiliate party leaders and those aspiring to run for political office using the constituent parties’ tickets.

Momentous day

Speaking to the media Wednesday in Nairobi, the 12-member National Coordinating Committee (NCC) co-chairmen James Orengo (ODM), Sakwa Bunyasi (Amani), and Johnstone Muthama (Wiper) described the Bomas meeting as ‘a momentous day for the coalition’.

“The four principals will receive Governor Ruto as the fifth principal. This is a great development as it shows NASA is dynamic and is growing in leaps and bounds,” said Bunyasi.

The Nambale MP further noted that bringing Mr Ruto to NASA provides hope for the country and gives great gravitas to the alliance. Mr Muthama said the principals would make a series of key announcements during the meeting.

“The principals will make very many important announcements tomorrow on how we are going to move forward as a coalition,” Muthama said.

He reiterated that the coalition remains united and already has a flag-bearer. “There is speculation that the NCC has failed in its mandate. That is wrong. We can’t let Kenyans down. We have a flag-bearer,” said the Machakos senator.

He called on Kenyans to support the coalition, claiming that it offers hope for the country as opposed to Jubilee.

“Jubilee is obsessed by our flag-bearer. We have one but we wonder why the interest because we know that at no point did they hold a meeting and decide that President Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto were to be Jubilee’s flag-bearers for 10 years,” Muthama said.

Mr Orengo described today’s meeting as a significant one as it was the only public meeting that would bring the principals together before the end of party primaries.

“All questions the media have been asking will be answered by the principals. There has been a lot of speculation but some of it isn’t true,” Orengo said.

The Siaya senator said the NASA pre-election pact gave room for inclusion of new parties and partners.

“We are now five instead of four. We will only inform the Registrar of Political Parties about the inclusion of Chama Cha Mashinani,” Orengo said.

The three co-chairs said the planned principals’ retreat has not failed. “It doesn’t mean that people have to go outside Nairobi for a retreat. Our principals have been meeting all the time,” he said.

Bunyasi pointed out that the retreat should not be seen as an end in itself. “It should be seen as a process that will culminate in the naming of the flag-bearer,” he said.

Orengo said part of the NCC’s mandate was to prepare an election manifesto and the coalition’s blueprint.

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