Inside Kalonzo’s plan to strengthen Azimio as opposition outfit
Wiper Party Leader Kalonzo Musyoka has announced plans to give Azimio la Umoja – One Kenya coalition a new look and more vigour as the opposition outfit of the country.
Speaking on Wednesday, November 13, 2024, Kalonzo indicated that Azimio is exploring ways of allowing other parties of interest to join Azimio.
The Wiper Party leader maintained that Azimio would be open to working with any person interested in pushing the agenda of holding the government of the day to account.
To further strengthen the opposition, Kalonzo stated that Azimio plans to ask all its affiliate parties to validate their membership in the coalition.
“In order to consolidate the opposition in Kenya, we need to work with everyone… we will talk to everyone going forward, we build a strong coalition,” Kalonzo stated.
“A time is coming when we will ask everyone to validate their membership,” he added.
However, Kalonzo made it clear that any other affiliate party which wants to ditch the coalition is free to walk out.
Narc-Kenya Party Leader Martha Karua has already announced intentions of leaving Azimio.
Recently, the DAP-K party said it has officially started the process to exit the Azimio coalition.
Battle with ODM
Kalonzo’s sentiments come days after Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leaders have maintained that the party has not entered into any form of agreement with the ruling Kenya Kwanza coalition.
Led by national chairperson Gladys Wanga, the party leaders said ODM is still an Opposition party.
“Let me make it clear that we have no coalition agreement with Kenya Kwanza. For you to merge, there must be an agreement, a memorandum saying who will do what,” she said.
The same sentiments were shared by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga who recently announced that ODM has neither joined nor entered any political alliance with President William Ruto.
Raila dismissed rumours suggesting that ODM had aligned itself with the government, calling them baseless misinformation.
“I want to be on record. There is no such alliance, as ODM has not entered into any political coalition with President William Ruto’s government,” Raila said.
Despite ODM’s stance, other Wiper parties have contested the decision indicating that ODM is working with the Kenya Kwanza government.