Sunday 4 August 2013

Jubilee plots to wrestle Western from former Prime Minister Raila Odinga


The Jubilee coalition is working on a plan to gain political muscle in Western Kenya. It involves using Government-friendly MPs to reach out to the electorate and also involving former Vice-President Musalia Mudavadi and former Justice Minister Eugene Wamalwa more in the agenda.

Some of the 15 MPs who met the President and his Deputy William Ruto last week, strongly argued the case for Mudavadi and Wamalwa, who are currently in ‘political Siberia’. The region currently lacks a leader who can rally the community into making binding political decisions as a block, as was the case during the Masinde Muliro and Kijana Wamalwa eras.
Apart from sub-tribe rivalries, leaders from the region spent their energies and resources destroying each other’s political careers, as was the case of former ministers Dr Mukhisa Kituyi and Musikari Kombo.  It emerged as a big surprise when Eugene abandoned Uhuru’s Jubilee and his own presidential ambition to join Mudavadi’s campaign in the last election.
The latest drama of local rivalry involves Bungoma Governor Kenneth Lusaka, who is reportedly being fought by a senior CORD leader through propaganda over alleged misuse of devolved funds.
Fielding candidates
Ruto and Uhuru are keen on fielding candidates to help the Government get a seat in the Senate and a few more in the National Assembly should the on-going election petitions succeed.
Currently, neither Uhuru’s TNA nor Ruto’s URP have a single seat in Bungoma, Kakamega and Vihiga counties, and the same applies in the neighbouring Trans Nzoia county.
Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s CORD has the largest number of MPs, Senators and Governors, followed by Mudavadi-Wamalwa’s Amani coalition.
This week, Uhuru held a meeting with 15 MPs led by Lugari MP Ayub Savula, where the President and the legislators agreed on a roadmap of the Jubilee government’s plan for the region. “We asked the President to consider the fate of the two, who at some point worked closely with the current Jubilee leadership in G7, and he promised to look into their fate,” said Bumula MP Bonface Otsyula (New Ford-Kenya).
The region overwhelmingly voted CORD in the March 4 General Election, with one of its co-principals, Ford-Kenya leader and Bungoma Senator Moses Wetangula, being the Minority leader in the Senate.
Infrastructure collapsed

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