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Kenya: Kalonzo States His Irreducible Minimum to Reconsider Azimio Exit

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3 years ago

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Nairobi — Even after unveiling his running mate Andrew Sinkuli for the August 9th presidential election, Wiper Leader Kalonzo Musyoka could abort his exit from the Azimio coalition if last minute talks with bear fruits.

It has emerged that the Wiper leader who announced on Monday is said to have demanded the inclusion of the portfolio offered to him in the coalition agreement to guarantee that the said office will be reserved for him.

Kalonzo bolted out of the hurriedly arranged marriage with Azimio presidential candidate Raila Odinga after it became apparent the ODM leader had settled on NARC Kenya’s Martha Karua as his running mate.

Key allies in Kalonzo’s camp claim that the move by Azimio Coalition to reserve him the chief minister slot in the event they win the polls is ingenuine.

They argue that there is no constitutional provision that provides for the docket of chief minister and even then the promise has not been documented in the Azimio Coalition agreement deposited at the Registrar of Political Parties.

“The promise they gave us is not in the constitution. In fact, the much they can do is to give him (Kalonzo) a cabinet minister docket then add additional duties to his docket,” Machakos MP Dan Maanzo, a close confidant of Kalonzo, told Capital News on Wednesday.

“They knew that what Kalonzo wanted is to give him the running mate slot but they went ahead and gave it out to Karua yet Kalonzo has the votes,” he lamented.

Maanzo insisted that in the next two weeks they will be open for talks with the Odinga-led coalition but in the event the discussions flop Kalonzo will be okay to go it alone.

“We are still in the race but we are open for talks with principals in the Azimio coalition. What we know however is that we are well on course to be the third force in the August 9 polls,” he said.

While unveiling Sunkuli as his running mate, Kalonzo stated he will be going mute for a week to have consultations ahead of the race. With the new revelations, it turned out the break from politics was to provide room for the Wiper leader to renegotiate his stake in Azimio.

The Wiper Leader has until May 30, when Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) will gazette the final list of all candidates for the August 9 poll, to make up his mind on whether or not he will run for president.

It now seems that Kalonzo had a hidden card even as he engaged in coalition talks with Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Alliance.