Mudavadi says Raila betrayed NASA dream

The implosion in the National Super Alliance (NASA) continues to worsen after co-principal Musalia Mudavadi outrightly dismissed Raila Odinga as a betrayer.

Yesterday, the Amani National Congress leader tore into the deal between President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila describing it as hollow, selfish and meaningless to NASA’s structured cause.

In an exclusive interview with Saturday Standard, Mudavadi said the ODM leader not only betrayed him as a co-principal but also millions of Kenyans when he chose personal gain at the expense of his supporters.

In what could signal a breakaway from a political friend-turned-foe-turned-friend, Mudavadi said new political alignments will emerge that will make NASA even much bigger and stronger in the absence of Raila.

“With eminent departure of ODM from NASA to merge with Jubilee, new political permutations and alignments will emerge that will make NASA even much stronger,” said Mudavadi who has lined up a series of rallies in Nandi, Vihiga, Kakamega and Bungoma over the weekend.

He said the ODM leader had forsaken the fight for a national dialogue on electoral justice that saw some Kenyans lose their lives for ‘whatever material offers.’

Beyond the fact of reducing anxiety among Kenyans, Mudavadi said, NASA fraternity was asking what was in the handshake for the nation?

“I am still reading between lines to find the hidden text related to issues affecting Kenyans that NASA stands for,” he said.

Three weeks ago President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila met for three hours at Harambee House and agreed to work together to unite the country.

Without public interest

The ANC leader said that unless there was a hidden deal that Kenyans are not privy to, the handshake remained just goodwill between two individuals with their needs met.

“It remains hollow without a public interest agenda and institutional framework to set it off. We in NASA had a National Agenda on dialogue which isn’t mentioned in the handshake document,” said Mudavadi.

National Assembly Minority Whip Junet Mohamed a close ally of Raila said Mudavadi should be the last person to talk about betrayal.

“Others can talk but not Mudavadi, his betrayal started in 2002, he followed it up in 2013 and now his political sins are many, he tried to atone for them in the last elections, but he still has some debts to pay,” said Suna East MP Junet.

Raila’s spokesman Dennis Onyango said real leaders do not spend time discussing what others have done.

“Real leaders spend their time doing what they and what the country will see to be better than what the others have done. That is what we expect from those opposed to the handshake. Let them come up with a better alternative,” said Mr Onyango.

Mudavadi on Thursday boycotted the NASA principals summit meeting with senators to convince them to rescind the decision to kick out Bungoma senator Moses Wetang’ula from the powerful position of Senate Minority Leader, at Panafric hotel in Nairobi.

?“I had already booked meetings I could not postpone. But frankly, of what value was my presence going to add to what appears ?to have been a choreographed script against Wetang’ula?” wondered Mudavadi.

He added; “If? majority senators cannot listen to pleas from their party leader, my presence would not matter to those determined to ?humiliate the senator.”

Mudavadi said it was vacuous drama? charade? for senators who removed Wetang’ula to purport to go on a retreat to discuss an issue already decided in Senate.

“We must first clear the cobwebs about the elections before we shake genuine hands.The handshake will be meaningful if it opened the servers so that we know the final truth about the elections,” he said.

On the future of the coalition, he explained that he founded NASA after thorough reflection on what was ailing the country and Kenyans took it over.

Mudavadi noted that NASA was an idea owned by the people. “Of course one child has eloped, but the household cannot collapse. Therefore NASA remains the Opposition in Kenya,” he explained

He said ODM defection did not mean dissolution of NASA and that the coalition remained strong with ANC, Wiper and Ford Kenya. “You cannot kill an idea embedded in people. The path for NASA is clear; carry the voice of the people.

He said the remaining coalition partners will be demanding the designation of Minority Coalition in Parliament.

“If they don’t surrender, we will still play our role as opposition from outside. We cannot join government and pretend to oversight our partners in crime,” said Mudavadi.