Wetang’ula’s political rhetoric threatens to split Ford-Kenya

Ford Kenya leader Moses Wetangula

Ford Kenya leader Moses Wetangula’s outburst over the future of NASA has come back to haunt him as his party implodes.

Wetang’ula has provoked the wrath of the opposition coalition members who have put Ford-Kenya on notice.

First it was a declaration that NASA was dead and buried and then this week’s pronouncements on a live television interview which invoked a response from Raila Odinga’s led ODM party.

In what amounts to rubbing salt on an injury, the Bungoma Senator said on the Citizen TV show that NASA was moribund and Raila duped them into absconding his swearing-in ceremony as the People’s President at Uhuru Park on January 30.

But ODM leaders dared him to officially quit the coalition and threatened his Ford Kenya MPs to either publicly dissociate themselves with Wetang’ula or face the music.

Distanced themselves

Reading the mood of NASA members, some of the MPs led by National Assembly Minority Leader Chris Wamalwa cleverly distanced themselves from their Ford-Kenya leader, terming his attacks against Raila and NASA a personal opinion.

The senator’s new found truce with Devolution Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa has also not gone down well with Ford Kenya leaders and NASA affiliate parties.

“Ford-Kenya remains part of NASA. The decision to withdraw from the coalition can only be reached by the party top organs including the National Executive Council,” the National Assembly Minority Leader said yesterday in an interview.

He said there was no need for ODM to pile pressure on Ford-Kenya to relinquish parliamentary positions.

“We have not resolved to quit NASA as a party, the remarks by Wetang’ula were nothing but personal views and do not warrant calls to Ford-Kenya to surrender parliamentary positions,” said Kiminini MP Wamalwa.

But Ford-Kenya deputy party leader, Boni Khalwale, has jumped to Wetang’ula’s defence saying his statement meant that NASA was indeed on its deathbed.

“Wetang’ula said NASA is moribund, the coalition is on a lifesaving machine, what is required is courage by one of the co-principals to switch off the machine to necessitate the outfit’s burial,” said the former Kakamega Senator.

He maintained that Wetang’ula and Ford-Kenya were technically out of NASA save for the legal provisions binding affiliated parties to the coalition agreement.

Dr Khalwale indicated that the party was focused on the planned merger with ANC “and if opportunity presents to talk and work with Jubilee, there is nothing absolutely wrong, new political configurations are expected towards 2022.”

According to Wamunyinyi, Ford-Kenya has nothing to lose in the event that the legislators are ejected out of parliamentary positions.

“It is a fact that Ford-Kenya has decided to leave NASA and nothing will stop us, Wamalwa is misleading people by claiming that the party is still intact within the coalition, that is his personal opinion,” he argued.

He said the Minority Leader and his ilk are worried about losing their parliamentary positions and other benefits they have been getting through NASA.

Earlier, ODM chairman John Mbadi and National Assembly Minority Leader Junet Mohammed told Ford-Kenya legislators to retract statements made by Wetang’ula or be ousted from parliamentary positions.

Mr Mbadi said the Ford-Kenya leader’s emotions were getting the best of him by the day and urged him to take a break from politics.

Mr Junet warned that plans to remove Ford-Kenya legislators from House leadership would go on if they failed to make an official communication in connection to Wetang’ula’s utterances.

“If we don’t receive communication from leaders disassociating themselves from what their party boss said, we shall have them ejected,” he said.

On Wetang’ula and the Devolution CS’s resolve to end their political rivalry, Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala and Shinyalu MP Justus Kizito dismissed it as a big joke.

Mr Malala said the marriage between the two was akin to a relationship of two men that cannot yield children.

“It is not workable and bound to fail even before the ink dries up on the paper,” he said.

Kizito has dismissed the new found unity as a Bukusu affair. “The is nothing new in Wetang’ula and Wamalwa burying the hatched, that was expected of them because they are both Bukusu’s,” he said.

Botched attempt

But clerics have welcomed the gesture.

“We are happy that they have realised the importance of coming together, they should now reach out to ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi and other politicians in the spirit of coalescing the region,” said Bishop Zablom Mukoshi, the county preachers association chairman.

Wetang’ula and Wamalwa were brought together by Bukusu elders last week at Mabanga Farmers Training College where they agreed to work together.

The two have not been seeing eye to eye since a botched attempt by the CS to oust Wetang’ula as Ford-K party boss in 2013.

Political scientist Amukowa Anangwe weighed in on the matter advising Wetang’ula to tone down on political rhetoric and together with ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi, work with President Kenyatta and Raila.