Raila, Kalonzo trade accusations as quarrel over endorsement intensifies

Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party leader Raila Odinga and his Wiper counterpart Kalonzo Musyoka on Monday continued to trade stinging accusations in what now looks like the making of a total fallout.

Kalonzo accused Raila of what he called serial dishonesty towards his allies, while Raila in a sharp rejoinder termed his former running mate as a coward who abandoned him at the mock swearing-in ceremony at Uhuru Park in 2018.

In its better days, the National Super Alliance (NASA) was a formidable force that gave the Jubilee party a run for its money in the 2017 presidential election that ended in a virtual stalemate; the once united NASA house is now a noisy shell as former allies-turned-foes throw killer punches at each other.

The latest row stemming from a call by other NASA leaders to ODM boss Raila to forgo his presidential ambitions in favour of the rest, but with Raila retorting that he would not endorse any one of them.

In a seemingly endless tirade, Kalonzo has come out guns blazing describing Raila as a serial betrayer of his political allies.

Kalonzo, in a statement, claimed Raila abandoned his allies right from his association with KANU in 2001, the Pentagon in 2007/08, the CORD coalition and now NASA – claiming that the  ODM chief had failed to gain a national outlook and support owing to his mistrust and dishonesty.

The mock swearing-in of Raila as the so-called ‘people’s president’ at Uhuru Park in January 2018 is forming a key part of the NASA fallout, with Raila charging that his partners shied away from the event.

But Kalonzo is also firing back only falling short of describing Raila’s involvement in the 2018 handshake as insincere, adding that the deal was initiated by the former premier to get himself into the trappings of State power and that he may abandon the deal should his thirst for power fail to be quenched.

Kalonzo accused Raila of riding on the backing of regional political supremos to give him the support only for him to ditch them.

In a rebuttal, however, ODM party Chairman John Mbadi described the NASA principals as a bunch of cowards whose narrative on abandoning Raila at the mock swearing-in ceremony has been incoherent and ever changing, saying the trio cannot stand on their own feet thereby trying to force Raila to endorse them; a move he says will never come to pass.

Mbadi further challenged Kalonzo, ANC party leader Musalia Mudavadi and Ford Kenya’s Moses Wetangula to  “drop their whining and become their own men for once in their political careers.”

The ODM Chair said the trio was full of excuses on their missing from the controversial swearing-in, with Raila in a cheeky tweet calling out his former colleagues on the Uhuru Park saga.

The NASA coalition has been all but dead since the handshake, this latest spat now raising questions about the real reason for the contention with just 17 months before the next General Elections.