OKA not under pressure to back Raila's presidency bid – Kalonzo

Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka has said the One Kenya Alliance will field its own candidate in next year's general election.

Speaking on Radio Jambo today, Kalonzo said OKA was not under pressure to back ODM leader Raila Odinga for the presidency.

On August 17, OKA principals announced that they will field one presidential candidate in the 2022 General Election.

The principals had met at the Great Rift Valley Lodge Resort in Naivasha.

“We hereby unequivocally state that One Kenya Alliance will field a presidential candidate in next year’s general election. And the candidate is here,” said OKA in a statement read by Kitutu Chache MP Richard Onyonka.

The Alliance, which comprises, Kalonzo, Ford-Kenya’s Moses Wetang’ula, Amani National Congress leader Musalia Mudavadi and Kanu’s Gideon Moi, says the top of its agenda is to “resuscitate Kenya’s economy”.

Recently Samburu West MP Naisula Lesuuda said the principals were deliberating on a compromise candidate to fly OKA’s flag in the 2022 presidential race.

“We understand everyone wants to know who our presidential candidate is. We are solely behind our principals, and whoever they will give us, we will back him fully,” said Lesuuda, who was among 132 OKA-affiliated members at the Great Rift Valley Lodge Resort.

But on August 16, Kanu Secretary-General Nick Salat said OKA cannot ignore Raila in its gameplan and accused a section of the principals of taking a hard stance on who should be the flag bearer.

“Everybody is insisting on their preferred candidate but that is not the way to run things. It is important for people to sit down and talk. It is about what formula will hand us a win, not the question of who has what numbers,” said Salat.

He explained that those discussing the issue of the flagbearer were jumping the gun.

But Makueni MP Daniel Manzo – an ally of Kalonzo – said that criteria of picking a candidate should factor in the number of elected leaders a party has in the current Parliament. His suggestion directly roots for a Kalonzo presidency since Wiper has more elected leaders compared to the three partner parties.