The United Democratic Forum (UDF) suffered a political blow Thursday after three of its top County officials decamped to the Cord coalition.
Kakamega county chairman Linus Muchenya, his Vihiga and Busia counterparts Solomon Kilasi and Tom Namusala respectively cited UDF’s party leader Musalia Mudavadi’s “mistreatment” within the Jubilee Alliance as the reason for jumping ship.
They urged Mr Mudavadi to ditch the alliance and make his way back “home” to the ODM fold.
Addressing a press conference at the Friends of Raila (FORA) offices in Nairobi, the politicians criticised The National Alliance (TNA) party leader Uhuru Kenyatta for reneging on a pact between him and Mr Mudavadi that was to see the former relinquish his quest for the race to State House in the latter’s favour.
“It is now becoming crystal clear that the alliance was pursuing a carefully planned and executed political racket to advance selfish ambitions of individuals within the coalition,” Mr Muchenya charged.
The leaders rallied the counties in Western province to unite solidly behind the Cord coalition “for the benefit of the Luhya community” saying it was time to rise up against their backs being used as a ride to the presidency.
Mr Muchenya said the Luhya community apart from feeling betrayed had taken great exception to the “dark forces” remark by Mr Kenyatta, which he blamed as having compelled him into signing the UDF/TNA/URP deal.
“The Jubilee Alliance has evolved and perfected a trend of using and dumping politicians and the Luhya community will not agree to be misused on a piggy ride to State House,” he said.
He said he was leading a defection to ODM and asked Mr Mudavadi to follow suit “as he has a place in his former home”.
“Does this mean (referring to the remarks attributed to Mr Kenyatta) that western Kenya was only incorporated into the Jubilee Alliance at the instigation and coercion of anonymous and shadowy forces of evil and darkness and that they were not worthy of a partnership?” Mr Kilasi posed.
The leaders said they were in shock that Mr Mudavadi had been “lured and mishandled, becoming a pawn in the Jubilee Alliance chessboard to be discarded, moved and used to checkmate the Cord coalition at will”.
They said ministers Charity Ngilu and Joe Nyagah dalliance with the Jubilee Alliance was “pure deceit” and would end up “in the same macabre fashion facing Musalia”.
“We now pose a question regarding the moral credentials of the key drivers of the Jubilee Alliance , particularly Uhuru Kenyatta, if he cannot respect us even before he gets to power, how will he treat us and look after our interest if he gets it?” the leaders asked.
They said they had instructed their lawyers to take the matter to court for interpretation with a view of finding Mr Kenyatta guilty of breaching a contract.
Source:nation.co.ke
