Choose between Muthama and I, Kalonzo tells Raila

 

Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka addresses journalists after a church service at AIC Kasina in Machakos County on Sunday. He asked NASA presidential candidate Raila Odinga to choose between working with Senator Johnstone Muthama or himself. [John Muia, Standard]

Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka has drawn NASA presidential candidate Raila Odinga into his feud with Machakos Senator Johnstone Muthama.

Kalonzo has said Raila will at some point have to choose between him and "other people" in an apparent reference to Mr Muthama with whom he has fallen out.

“Tuikwenda andu meuneena kithyomo kitesikie ukamba. Either mundu enaitu, kana ndenaitu. Na vakavikwa vandu ngulye Raila anyuve kana eenda Kalonzo kana eenda andu angi, nikana yithiwe wazi. (We don’t want people who are speaking a language that is unknown in Ukambani. You’re either for us or against us. And it will reach a point when I will ask Raila to choose who he wants - Kalonzo or other people - so that things come out clearly),” warned Kalonzo in his Kamba language at Mlolongo on Sunday.

Prior to the statement, Kalonzo had named Muthama, saying he must toe the party line as the rift between him and his key ally-turned-harsh-critic deepened.

“I want Hon Senator Muthama to accept to be under the authority of his party now, because we will not allow him to continue preaching a different message from what the party leader is preaching. Even Deputy Governor Bernard Kiala, whom he was supporting for the Machakos governor's seat, has now agreed to work with Wavinya (Ndeti) and this is the way to go,” charged Kalonzo.

Kalonzo is Raila’s running mate in the NASA ticket for the August elections.

Records at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) indicate Kalonzo has been nominated by Wiper as the presidential candidate but the two leaders have explained that filing was overtaken by events and they would formally present their papers to IEBC on Sunday.

The war between Muthama and Kalonzo took an ugly turn during the recent burial of Kitui Senator David Musila’s mother, when the senator claimed Kalonzo had interfered with the party nominations that saw even Mr Musila lose.

Musila is running as an independent after rejecting Governor Julius Malombe's victory in the party primaries.

Kalonzo, who was jeered by some of the mourners, insisted the primaries were free and fair. Muthama has also protested that his ally, Mr Kiala, was shortchanged in the governorship nominations. He disputed the victory of Ms Ndeti who had defected from Chama Cha Uzalendo.

At one point at the height of the feuding over the primaries, Muthama sensationally claimed he would make unflattering disclosures about Kalonzo that would undermine his standing.

During the search for NASA’s joint presidential candidate, Kalonzo allies accused Muthama of working against their man by backing Raila despite the fact Wiper had picked him as the party’s representative in a committee of MPs from affiliate parties.

Addressing the media after a church service at Kasina AIC in Mlolongo, Kalonzo accused Muthama of utmost disloyalty.