Kalonzo’s long, winding road to Azimio la Umoja

Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka addresses a gathering at KICC on February 26, 2022 during Jubilee Party ADC where they unveiled new officials and showed support for Azimio la Umoja presidential candidate Raila Odinga. [Denish Ochieng, Standard]

Politicians are like chameleons, quickly adaptable to the environments they operate in. This is a truism that Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka knows has learnt only too well in his 38 years in the field.

Speaking to this very aspect is his decision to plunge into structured negotiations with the Azimio la Umoja movement headed by Raila Odinga – a man that Kalonzo had said he would be “the stupidest man on earth” to join hands with for a third time.

In an interview in June 2021, he had stated that he would be “the most stupid person on earth” to endorse Odinga, who was his co-principal in the National Super Alliance (NASA), for the third consecutive time.

“For me, as of now, it is unthinkable that I, Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka, would support Raila Odinga for the third time. I would be the most stupid fellow on earth to go and support — for the third time — a presidential candidate without a measure of reciprocity,” said Kalonzo.

Kalonzo now finds himself stuck with the same man for a third time after the One Kenya Alliance (OKA), an outfit that he, Martha Karua (NARC) Cyrus Jirongo (UDP) and Gideon Moi (KANU) are principles of, on Friday announced that it would be joining Azimio la Umoja movement.

As he read the speech, Kalonzo’s demeanor was, however, that of a man who had experienced a Damascus moment having been haunted by his political past and held captive by the uncertainty of what the future bore. His move to seek solace in the Azimio la Umoja movement that is building up to be a monolithic coalition, has however quickly dimmed his quest of going it alone in the August 9 general elections.

Should he choose to remain in Azimio, it will bolster the movement’s chances of scooping the 1.5 million lower eastern votes that he brings to the table and a sizeable bloc from upper eastern. Already, Ukambani governors Charity Ngilu (Kituti), Alfred Mutua (Machakos) and Kivutha Kibwana of Makueni have indicated their support for Azimio la Umoja.

Though he has been in politics since 1984, Kalonzo and Raila’s political sojourn dates back to 2013 when under the umbrella of Coalition for reforms and democracy, they vied for Presidency against President Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto.

Prior to the polls, however, the Raila-Kalonzo wing which had incorporated Amani National Congress’  Musalia Mudavadi and Ford Kenya’s Moses Wetangula entered into an MOU which among other things stipulated that Raila would only vie for Presidency and serve for one term.

When the elections came, Uhuru would however clinch victory after securing an overwhelming 6,173,433 votes against CORDs 5,340,546. Then came 2017 when they both- under the National Super Alliance – took another stab at presidency where they would again fight it out with the incumbent Uhuru-Ruto duo. They lost again.

This would lead to tumultuous relationship and an eventual fallout between Raila and Kalonzo. Fast forward to 2022 and the duo are set to work together, but this time round Kalonzo is armed with a cautionary tale. When he rose to address the crowd at the Jubilee Party National Delegates Conference at KICC yesterday, Kaolonzo compared his new found union with Jubilee and ODM to a three-legged stool.

“We will walk with you; the three legged stool will walk with you. It took as sometime to accept the name Azimio one Kenya alliance but we are only guided by what’s important to this nation,” stated Kalonzo.