Hours before the swearing-in of National Super Alliance (NASA) leader Raila Odinga, there was a private meeting at an exclusive Nairobi hotel. At the venue, one group supporting the oath-taking took time to convince the three coalition principals to go ahead with it.

We are more united than ever The meeting at the hotel in Riverside was attended by Raila, coalition co-principals Musalia Mudavadi and Senate Leader of Minority and Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang’ula, Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho, Siaya Senator James Orengo and businessman Jimi Wanjigi. There were also a few MPs.
The Standard has learnt that the private meeting that began at 11am was supposed to be the final congregation before all the leaders left together for the event in Uhuru Park, but it turned out there were disagreements. Although three of the leaders had been vocal in their support of the ceremony, Mudavadi and Wetang’ula expressed their reluctant to attend the event during the talks that lasted three hours, according to sources. At some point, the principals, including Kalonzo, who participated in the deliberations through phone conversations from home, seemed to agree to attend the meeting. Instead, Mudavadi and Wetang’ula left for their homes at around 2.10pm while Raila drove into an ecstatic crowd at Uhuru Park.