Ababu Namwamba tells dissatisfied CORD members to ship out

The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Secretary General Ababu Namwamba has dared disgruntled parties within the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) to pack and leave.

Namwamba said people who have been looking for an excuse to leave the coalition should do so, saying CORD will be strong even without them.

“If you have been waiting for an excuse to leave you should do it now, we cannot stop you. Even if you leave, we will continue to build the coalition without you because CORD is a national coalition,” he said.

The Budalangi MP further reaffirmed the position of ODM in the coalition saying they will stay firm in their push to form the next government.

Namwamba’s utterances are analogous to a Facebook post by Raila Odinga spokesperson Dennis Onyango on Sunday intimating that the coalition is ready for separation “if the marriage is not working.”

In a grim response, CORD co-principal Moses Wetangula told off Namwamba over the remarks saying CORD is not a one-party coalition.

“There is no one party that formed CORD. It is an association of Ford Kenya, ODM and Wiper Democratic Movement,” he said.

The Bungoma Senator further noted that if CORD crumbles, Jubilee will be guaranteed a win in the 2017 elections.

Namwamba’s sentiments have also elicited sharp criticism from Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar who termed them malicious and divisive.

The Wiper Democratic Movement (WDM) Secretary General claimed that Namwamba does not champion for the unity of CORD saying his utterances should not be taken seriously.

There has been voices of disgruntlement within CORD in the past days, fueled by the troubled presidential launch of its co-principal Moses Wetangula in Kakamega last Saturday.

A section of Ford Kenya officials have since expressed their displeasure with the absence of CORD principal and ODM party leader Raila Odinga in the launch, despite his earlier commitment to attend.

Similarly, there have been allegations that top ODM officials ‘hired’ goons to disrupt the meeting with ugly scenes of rowdy youth cladded in orange ODM t-shirts being used to substantiate the claims.

On Sunday, Raila Odinga’s spokesman Dennis Onyango’s post on Facebook pointed at a coalition battling to hold together after he said that they were ready to sever links with any coalition partner if the marriage does not work”.

Ford Kenya’s new entrant and Kakamega Senator Bonny Khalwale has however refuted reports of a possible walkout saying “so far the Baluyia are firmly in CORD.”

Reports indicate that hours to the launch of Wetangula’s bid, Raila Odinga was in Kisumu planning to attend the event but later decided to visit Tanzania President and his close ally John Pombe Magufuli.

After arriving in the country Raila held a meeting with his CORD co-principals in a bid to iron out differences within the coalition.

@benjaminwafula