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Kenya: Odinga to Lose in the Event of Political Zoning in Azimio, Wamalwa Warns

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4 years ago

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Nairobi — Political zoning within the larger Azimio la Movement will be detrimental to Raila Odinga’s presidential ambitions, Defense Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa has warned.

The Defense CS affiliated to the Democratic Action Party of Kenya (DAP-K) stated that any attempt to zone regions to any political party within the movement risks stifling democracy in the country.

“If we will say we restrict parties to field candidates in certain regions and counties. Some of the aspirants who have joined this party and already paid for the party fee and mobilized their supporters, they will be so annoyed that they will not come out to vote on August 9th,” he said.

Wamalwa was reacting to the abrupt move by Kakamega legislators to decamp from the party and join their sister party Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) with the fears that DAP-K will not be allowed to field candidates in Kakamega.

“Instead of boosting Raila’s chances of winning, zoning will limit his chances of winning. We were the first to decide to join Odinga’s presidential bid. The competition for us to help Raila search for votes and the other sister parties, these consolidated votes will make Raila become the next president,” said Wamalwa.

DAP-K party leader Wafula Wamunyinyi vehemently opposed the notion that the party will only be allowed to vie in two counties in the western region: Bungoma and Transnzoia.

Wamunyinyi insisted that friendly fire within the sibling parties within Azimio la Umoja movement should be encouraged as it’s the essence of any democratic space.

“Our stand is that we will field candidates in all position apart from the presidential one.We haven’t heard any consultations regarding zoning.If there is an issue within Azimio lets sit down and have discussions,” he said.

Sibling rivalry between DAP-K and ODM over the control of the western region is threatening to create a political rivalry that will cause a major tiff between them.

On Friday, MPs Oscar Nabulindo, Titus Khamala, Tindi Mwale, Chris Aseka and Bernard Shinali decamped to ODM weeks after they had joined DAP-K.

“You can’t say that Kakamega belong to one party and DAP-K is there, that is not allowed. Even those legislators who were convinced to join ODM we have no issue with them, it’s their democratic right,” Wamunyinyi said.