NAIROBI, Kenya Apr 21-One Kenya Alliance principals Gideon Moi (KANU), Musalia Mudavadi (ANC), Kalonzo Musyoka (Wiper) and Moses Wetangula (Ford Kenya) have agreed to widen the coalition with like-minded political players ahead of the 2022 high stake General Election.
The leaders held a two-hour consultative meeting on Tuesday in which they agreed to form a technical working team that would come up with modalities of accommodating other political players.
“We had a meeting to reflect on further steps to be undertaken in the coming weeks to strengthen and broaden the emerging political formation of One Kenya Alliance,” Mudavadi said.
The leaders, who have remained committal that their alliance is primarily aimed at uniting Kenyans, have in recent days been on the receiving end with some of their critics accusing them of being propped by President Uhuru Kenyatta ahead of the polls to tame the influence of ODM Party Leader Raila Odinga and Deputy President William Ruto.
“Today we mark the beginning of a journey with a clear purpose to unite this country through a transformative agenda that seeks to create equal opportunities for all Kenyans,” the leaders said during its launch in March 2021.
The former Prime Minister Odinga enjoyed a previous political pact with Mudavadi, Musyoka and Wetangula in the now defunct National Super Alliance (NASA). He was deliberately left out of the equation in what is largely attributed to his ‘insincerity’ to honor coalition agreements.
The ODM Party Leader who is yet to formally announce his presidential bid although his allies have hinted that he will be on the ballot has since dismissed the alliance and termed it “a tribal alliance”.
Deputy President William Ruto who is also eyeing the presidency has accused the quartet of banking on tribal politics to get power instead of championing for a national party with an ideology to unite all Kenyans.
Talk has been rife in recent days of a political formation between Raila and Ruto though the two arch-rivals have dismissed the talk.
Ruto in a past interview revealed that the differences between him and the ODM leader were purely political and noted that in the event the former premier gets to adopt his hustler ideology then there could be room for a working arrangement.
“Our differences are only political and if people share ideas then room for engagement should never be dismissed,” he said.
Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya who also doubles up as the ODM Party Leader recently met Ruto in what ignited talk of the possibility of a Raila-Ruto alliance.
The One Kenya Alliance political outfit is among the three others that are angling for President Uhuru Kenyatta’s endorsement for the 2022 presidential election.