Kitui Senator Enock Wambua says that Wiper party will not join Raila Odinga-led Azimio la Umoja movement and that Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka is not ready to deputize Raila in the coming election citing mistrust issues.

Wambua said that though they are open to negotiating with Raila for a possible coalition, they warned him against coming with a fixed mind that the former Prime Minister must be their presidential candidate and that Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka will be his deputy.

Speaking to KTN News, the senator argued that they (Wiper leaders) have trust issues with the ODM boss who they accuse of not keeping promises. One of the promises he claims Raila has failed to keep is agreeing to honour their 2017 agreement in which he agreed to support Kalonzo in this year’s general election after he (Kalonzo) supported him in both the 2013 and 2017 elections.

“I want to repeat what I had said; as Wiper, we are not ready to deputize Raila. There is an issue with our stand. Kalonzo Musyoka deputized Raila twice in presidential elections. And he (Kalonzo) had told the public that he had an agreement with Raila that in the 2022 presidential elections whether Raila won the 2017 elections or not he (Raila) would have supported him (Kalonzo),” Senator Wambua said.

The lawmaker further claimed that Raila is yet to clear some of the financial debts he promised to give Wiper from the Political Parties funds. He said that Raila’s ODM shortchanged Wiper in the division of the funds.

Wambua claimed that Raila had promised to give the Wiper party Ksh70 million from the Political Parties fund but till today, the Kalonzo-led party has only received Ksh20 million.

“ODM shortchanged us in the political parties funding. And when the ODM party leader agreed to pay some money to the Nasa affiliate parties, in his calculations he said Wiper was entitled to Ksh70 million. To date, even after all the money have been received, ODM has only paid Wiper I think only Ksh20 million,” he said.

The Kitui senator further maintained that the One Kenya Alliance (OKA) will not join Raila-led Azimio la Umoja but is open to negotiating with them. He refuted reports that OKA had joined the Azimio la Umoja movement asking Kenyans not to jump into non-existing conclusions.

“I want to put the record straight that OKA is not joining Azimio la Umoja. My party leader has said that OKA has opened doors to negotiation and not joining Azimio,” he said.