Visa cancellation threat fake, ODM says

The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) has denied claims that its party leader Raila Odinga was blackmailed by Western countries into entering a unity deal with President Uhuru Kenyatta.

ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna yesterday said remarks attributed to Amani National Congress (ANC) leader Musalia Mudavadi that Raila and others were threatened with visa sanctions were misleading.

Mr Sifuna (pictured) had convened a press conference with party MPs to react to statements made by Mr Mudavadi when he addressed Kenyans in the US.

"The handshake between the two leaders, as they have stated repeatedly, is born of a deeper desire to unite the country, build bridges and grow together beyond the five-year cycle of politics and hatred," said Sifuna.

He continued: “They are both committed to this and will not waver. No foreign power has the capacity to cage the President and Raila, as Mudavadi may suggest." 

Foreign powers

Sifuna was flanked by MPs Paul Abour (Rongo), Jared Okello (Nyando), Denittah Ghati (nominated, Senate), Michael Kingi (Magarini) and Babu Owino (Embakasi East). They were joined by nominated MP Godfrey Osotsi from Mudavadi's party.

“If any foreign powers had threatened visa sanctions, it would have been to stop the swearing-in by Odinga, not to birth the handshake. Sections of the international community had given a thumbs-up to the disputed elections and publicly advocated for the results to be accepted by all unconditionally,” Sifuna said.

In January last year, Raila stirred controversy when he took an oath as the 'people's president' at Uhuru Park. This followed the disputed presidential elections in 2017.

"After Mudavadi boycotted the event, the trust that existed between him and Raila broke down irretrievably. Raila and ODM decided on that day to chart a new course without so-called coalition partners," said Sifuna.

“Musalia does not know what happened from there on. He was in the dark and he remains in the dark. He knows nothing about that chapter of Kenya’s history and would be best advised not to parade his ignorance, especially in faraway lands.”

Mr Osotsi also dismissed his party leader’s assertions, saying he had sent mixed signals on his political stand.

“We know that he is a beneficiary of the handshake. Even his party secretariat is being financed by people in the system, yet he is now disowning the handshake. We shall expose him soon,” Ososti said.

But reacting to the ODM statement, ANC Chairman Kevin Lunani described the Orange party as a "wounded lion which is roaring", while dismissing Osotsi as an ANC impostor.

On Tuesday, Mudavadi told a gathering of Kenyans in the diaspora that some Western countries had threatened to cancel visas for opposition leaders and their associates unless they entered into a political deal with Uhuru's administration.

“The secret is that, slowly, visas were being cancelled. And when visas are cancelled, they don’t just cancel yours alone. They cancel yours, that of your wife, children and relatives and even those who are seated somewhere who bear the same name as you within that fraternity,” he said.