Why some politicians are leaving Azimio-One Kenya, Tuju says

Head of Azimio la Umoja secretariat Raphael Tuju. [Denish Ochieng, Standard]

The Executive Director of the Azimio Secretariat Raphael Tuju has trivialised the recent exodus of politicians from the Azimio-One Kenya coalition.

According to him, there are six other political parties requesting to be part of the coalition but he did not mention them.

“I am not worried about the exodus. Let us wait and see what will happen in the next week. Already six other parties want to join Azimio-One Kenya but we cannot enter an MoU with them,” Tuju said.

In an exclusive interview on KTN News, Tuju alleged that some politicians had made unrealistic demands to the party leadership and opted to leave when they were told off.

“There are some governors with graft cases in court who wanted their ongoing cases ‘sorted’. That cannot happen. If you have any cases face them on your own. If that is what you want, then we don’t want your support,” he posed.

The Odinga-Uhuru led coalition boss weighed in on the exit of Machakos and Kilifi Governors.

According to Tuju, the Maendeleo Chap Chap party leader Alfred Mutua shifted allegiance for lack of funding.

“I sympathise with him (Governor Alfred Mutua). I pity his situation. He came to see me sometime back. His demands could not be met,” the former journalist explained.

While announcing his exit, Mutua had said that the coalition had been mistreating small and upcoming parties and had never received any funding as he opposed the hidden details of the agreement they signed.

Additionally, the Azimio boss said that Amason Kingi left Azimio because he did not want any other party to field a candidate in Kilifi apart from PAA.

Kingi had attributed his exit to opaqueness, secrecy and lack of involvement in the coalition’s activities.

“Some of these politicians were expecting too much from Raila Odinga. You cannot constitutionally implement zoning. Every person is entitled to field a candidate,” Tuju remarked.