Night meeting sparks debate on joint battle

A Sunday night meeting between Kenya Kwanza governor candidate Cleophas Malalah and his political opponent Cyrus Jirongo has  triggered debate on prospects of a united assault against Azimio candidate Fernandes Barasa (below) at next month’s poll.

Cleophas and Jirongo checked in at the Planet Garden resort and recreation located in the Ejinja suburbs of Kakamega town at about 7.30pm and held talks for more than three hours before driving out in the late hours of Sunday night.

Sources told the ‘People Daily’ the two leaders and the senator’s father; businessman and politician David Meja Malala remained holed up in the closet door meeting until after 11pm as their aides waited in the restaurant.

 Both Cleophas and Jirongo did not answer our calls and text messages for a response on the agenda of the meeting. However, Malala senior confirmed the meeting happened but declined to disclose whether withdrawal was part of the agenda. He said the duo agreed to meet again before the polls.

Late last week, MDP governor candidate Samuel Mukoko suffered a political blow after his running mate John Marani announced his resignation and defection to Cleophas camp, barely putting the bid in limbo.

Asked whether there were prospects of Jirongo stepping down,  Malala Snr burst into a hearty mirth and then explained, “Jirongo is a family friend. So today I received a call from him asking me out for coffee. I contacted my son and why not see how it happened.” 

He went on, “ This is a political season and we talked politics. We agree that we have a common enemy in the name of Oparanya’s project (Fernandes Barasa) whom we must defeat by all means. We agreed to meet again and firm up some issues.”

Malala claimed Jirongo was apparently infuriated by Raila’s weekend endorsement of Barasa as the preferred Azimio governor candidate for Kakamega.  Jirongo’s United democratic Alliance (UDA) party is an affiliate of Azmuio and now he finds himself at political crossroads.

“Off course he has personal issues with my coalition leader DP William Ruto and now this open bias from Raila.  We agreed to explore our interests and to work together on the local front,” Malala said of the meeting.

Both Cleophas and Jirongo are seeking to succeed outgoing governor Wycliffe Oparanya Opinion polls have placed the Kakamega senator at par with Barasa in a cut throat race. Jirongo is the only governor candidate from the northern region of Kakamega county that has Likuyani, Lugari and Malava with 250,000-plus registered voters

Cleophas is from Navakholo constituency in Central Kakamega that also has Shinyalu, Ikolomani and Lurambi with about 290,000 registered voters while the southern region of the county has Butere, Mumias east, west, Matungi and khwisero with close to 260,000. Registered voters.

Three candidates iBarasa, Mukoko and Michael Osundwa (Independent) all come from the southern region. So far, Cleophas remains the most visible of the five governor candidates having completed over 500 rallies. Jirongo has done less than ten rallies with four weeks to the polls.