Mombasa governor hopeful Suleiman Shahbal says he made a Sh1 million bet with Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka that ODM’s Raila Odinga would not surrender the NASA ticket to him, and he will now be calling to demand his cash.
He said the two made the bet over the opposition’s presidential ticket in 2017. “I’m calling him to collect my money. I told him there is no way that Raila would give him the certificate,” Shahbal told the Star on the phone on Friday.
NASA on Thursday named Raila as their flagbearer, ending months of speculation, negotiations, and lingering fears of a complete meltdown.
Kalonzo was named Raila’s running mate to compete with Jubilee’s President Uhuru Kenyatta and DP William Ruto in August.
Shahbal said he warned Kalonzo, but the Wiper leader “turned a deaf ear on me”. “Kalonzo insisted they had an MoU with Raila,” Shahbal said.
He said Kalonzo was optimistic that Raila would let him be the presidential flagbearer.
This happened in 2013, when Shahbal was still in Wiper.
The MoU was a subject of a disagreement between Wiper and ODM, which threatened the unity of then Cord, with Wiper members, saying Raila should honour it.
It stipulated that Raila would support Kalonzo for the presidency this year.
ODM, however, insisted the agreement was pegged on Raila becoming President in 2013, which was not to be, thus rendering the MoU useless. Shahbal said Kalonzo may have disoriented the Kamba community, especially in Mombasa, where Wiper hopes to topple Governor Hassan Joho.
The banker said he is confident of victory, now that Kalonzo has made work easier for him in Mombasa. “The Kamba community in Mombasa is extremely unhappy, because he is going to put them in the cold for another five years,” Shahbal said.
The Jubilee politician said the Raila-Kalonzo ticket has been tried and tested and found to be no match for the Uhuruto ticket for Jubilee.
“If Raila played the role of the kingmaker, maybe it could have been an exciting election, but now it is the same monkeys in the same forest,” Shahbal said.
He said the NASA principals have wasted almost a whole year discussing “non-necessities” in the leadership structure.
Source link-the-star.co.ke
