Work with Raila, allies tell Musalia amid UDF cracks

UDF leader Musalia Mudavadi (left) at a political rally. (Photo:STANDARD)

By ERIC LUNGAI

Nairobi, Kenya: The recent courting of Musalia Mudavadi to join CORD by his ally and Vihiga Senator George Khaniri, may signal another turn of events in western Kenya politics.

Talk in the region is that Mudavadi’s UDF party may be slowly disintegrating.  

Mr Khaniri was Mudavadi’s right hand man in the campaigns to the run up of the elections and he is a key UDF member, together with Vihiga and Sabatia MPs Yusuf Chanzu and Alfred Agoi.

In the last few weeks, Khaniri has, however, been asking Mudavadi to stop being a Jubilee mole and instead team up with Raila to form a formidable coalition, which will win the presidency in 2017.

“If Mudavadi is not going to unite with Raila Odinga so that either of them gets the presidency come 2017, they should altogether retire from politics and forget about being this country’s president. This can happen only if they unite now for the common good,” Khaniri said at a recent function at Musitinyi Primary School in Luanda.

Cracks have further emerged in Mudavadi’s UDF party, Vihiga Branch, which threatens the popularity of the outfit that controls the Vihiga County Assembly due to the tyranny of numbers it enjoys.

Leadership vacuum left by Mudavadi after he lost in the last General Election has seen struggle for power and control of Vihiga County among senator, MPs and Members of County Assembly characterise the party.

UDF won key seats in the county in the last Elections because of Mudavadi’s influence as a presidential candidate. The party controls the County Assembly, with 25 out of the 39 MCAs being its members.

The leaders have on several occasions shown that UDF is intact at the branch level but investigations by The Standard on Sunday reveal that all is not well on the ground.

Khaniri is emerging as the main challenge to Mudavadi’s influence in the county and his rising popularity has not gone down well amongst the former DPM’s allies.

State House bid

Khaniri, who is nursing presidential ambitions, has held a series of rallies in the county and made a political statement that may be giving Mudavadi and his foot soldiers sleepless nights.

While addressing a funeral service in Emuhaya Sub County few weeks ago, Khaniri told Mudavadi that he was only giving him a second chance on the top seat in 2017 and if he fails, he should step aside and let him take over the mantle of taking Vihiga people to State House.

At the branch level, UDF woes are not ending as the party has been thrown out of the office in Mbale town by the landlord due to nonpayment of rent.

Branch Secretary General and nominated MCA Nathan Kamidi confirmed that the party was now operating on the streets as the landlord locked them after they failed to pay rent of Sh12,000 per month.

“Mudavadi paid rent for the office for a whole year and when the period expired the branch was unable to pay because we do not have any other source of revenue,” said Kamidi. The other issue that has caused division in the branch is disagreement by MCAs on payment of Sh5,000 monthly to the party.

“The party met and agreed that MCAs should be paying Sh5,000 through cheques off system to the party but they have resisted the move and declined to pay the money,” said Kamidi.

He said that MPS pay Sh25,000 per month to the party and MCAs should also contribute because they are holding the positions because of UDF.

A source in the party said that MCAs are not happy with Mudavadi after he failed to organise a meeting between them and President Kenyatta during his visit to Sabatia to attend the memorial service of Moses Budamba Mudavadi.

“Through the Speaker, we had requested Mudavadi to organise a meeting with the President either before or after the function but he did not, instead he allowed Uhuru to meet with Governor Akaranga for more than two hours in his house,” one of the MCAs said.

They said that the failure by Mudavadi to fix a meeting between MCAs and the President meant that he was not aggressive enough as the party leader.

“Chanzu organised a meeting between us and Deputy President William Ruto when he graced his homecoming ceremony at Vihiga High School recently and Mudavadi should have done the same with Uhuru,” he said.

A decision by Chanzu to install Ruto as a Maragoli elder in the presence of Mudavadi during his thanks giving ceremony at Vihiga High School has also angered former DPM’s supporters.

Differences among UDF leaders have also been witnessed during homecoming of the leaders organized recently as some skip the events.

Khaniri said it was time Mudavadi came back to his former redeemer Raila Odinga and learn a few tricks as they take another stab at the presidency.

He added that Mudavadi was not so far showing the agility required for an individual who wants to go for presidency as he awaits things to come to him on a silver platter, which is not supposed to be the case.

“Nothing comes on a silver platter. Mudavadi should grab the chance, and not just sit there and wait to be given something by others who are not willing to let go power,” he said.

These sentiments had been first said by Lugari MP Ayub Savula in a function at Mudavadi’s home in Mululu, who noted that Mudavadi should be aggressive and fight for the presidency.

Khaniri said that he was preparing to take over the mantle from Mudavadi and Raila and lead the entire western bloc if the two leaders will fail to reach a consensus and unite to take over presidency.

“In 2022, we do not want to see any person in the form of Raila and Mudavadi going for presidency, if they miss their only chance in 2017 which we the youths have given them,” he said.

Mudavadi’s private secretary of press Kibisu Kabatesi said that UDF party is not facing any challenges, but instead, bracing up for future political battles.