NAIROBI, Kenya Nov 4 – Senator Moses Wetangula has received blessings of his Ford Kenya party to vie for the presidency in next year’s General Election.
The Bungoma Senator was endorsed on Thursday during the party’s National Delegate’s Conference (NDC) held at the Bomas of Kenya despite an order by the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal (PPDT).
“I accept the honor you have bestowed on me as the flagbearer of the party and the latitude you have given me to engage my brothers and sisters in the broad politics with the realization that there is no single politician can work the journey alone,” Wetangula said in his acceptance speech at a packed auditorium where he declared that “In 2022, I will form a government with others or others will form a government with me.”
The Wetangula faction of Ford Kenya is one of the partners in the One Kenya Alliance (OKA) which has assured that it will field a presidential candidate in the coming weeks.
Invited guests at the NDC included Wetangula’s co-principals in the alliance Musalia Mudavadi (ANC) who was represented by Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala, Kalonzo Musyoka (Wiper Party) and Gideon Moi (KANU).
“God knows who will be the presidential candidate of OKA. I hope it will be yours truly Moses Wetangula,” Wetangula said, adding that “Kalonzo and I have served this nation with distinction as Foreign ministers. So, when it comes to what we can do in this country and what my presidency can do if my brothers give me the opportunity to carry the mantle. It is to ensure that Kenya takes its stage and right position in the world scene and be indeed a peacemaker in the region and globe.”
At least one person was shot and seriously injured during a fracas at the NDC that was dismissed by the Kanduyi MP Wafula Wamunyinyi-led faction of Ford Kenya.
The fracas occurred during elections for new officials, but there were contradicting reports on who exactly opened fire.
Journalists covering the event said they heard gunshots inside the auditorium before an ambulance rushed the injured person to hospital.
The meeting was briefly disrupted before it resumed.
Wamunyinyi said the meeting by the Moses Wetangula-led group was held in violation of an order by the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal (PPDT) that restrained both factions from holding delegates conference meetings.
“We as law-abiding Kenyans and Ford Kenya as a party that respects the rule of law, we quickly consulted citizens and decided that we obey the court order however, we are aware that the other faction is going ahead to hold an NDC in total violation of a court order this is the kind of people we’re dealing with,” Wamunyinyi told a news conference Thursday.
But Wetangula defended the meeting and his faction saying they were exercising their democratic right.
“This is a party where democracy thrives,” he said, and thanked delegates for endorsing him and assured that “Once elected as president I will ensure Kenya takes its stage in the world scene as a peacemaker in the region and globe.”
The Political Parties Disputes Tribunal said it suspended the NDC pending the hearing and determination of a petition filed by Crispinus Barasa under a certificate of urgency.
“That pending inter parties hearing and determination of the Notice of Motion application dated November 2, 2021, interim orders for injunction be and are hereby issued restraining the second respondent from proceeding with the NDC,” the tribunal ruled.
During the Thursday NDC at the Bomas of Kenya, Musyoka castigated their critics calling them “politicians seeking votes in boardroom meetings” in an apparent reference to Deputy President William Ruto.
“Those saying we are boardroom politicians are living in fear. We are getting our arsenals assembled we can play around on how we have a nation to save,” he said.
The Wiper leader poured cold water on Ruto’s bottom-up economic model saying he already wrecked the economy in his ten years in government.
“They give the youth handouts in rallies with no clear structures of sharing the money and in the process, some get maimed as the fight for the money. We want to tell Kenyans when you are given handouts take and even ask for more,” Kalonzo said.
Malala who spoke on behalf of Mudavadi declared that they will not have post-election handshakes, and urged anyone ready to join them to “do so now.”
“Our message is that there will be no handshake after we form the government. If you want to join us, do it now. They will be no other handshake once we form the government,” the Kakamega Senator said.
