Uhuru to meet Raila and OKA leaders in efforts to reunite them

President Uhuru Kenyatta is this morning scheduled to chair a meeting between One Kenya Alliance (OKA) leaders and their ODM counterpart Raila Odinga in a bid to re-unite them.

The President is said to have invited the leaders for the meeting in Mombasa where he has been staying since last Thursday.

Expected at the meeting are Kanu’s Gideon Moi, Kalonzo Musyoka (Wiper), Musalia Mudavadi (ANC) and Ford Kenya’s Moses Wetangula.

Ford Kenya Organising Secretary Chris Mandu Mandu yesterday confirmed that his party leader, Wetangula has received the invite and would attend the meeting.

“The principals were only told that the meeting would discuss matters directly affecting the nation at the moment.

Hon Wetangula is preparing to leave Nairobi this morning for Mombasa,” Mandu Mandu told the People Daily.

The meeting comes barely days after Mudavadi, Wetangula and Kalonzo exited the National Super Alliance, citing bullying and betrayal by ODM party and announced plans to work under OKA in the coming elections.

Sources told People Daily that allies of the President have been working overdrive to re-unite the former National Super Alliance (Nasa) leaders under a new alliance to face Deputy President William Ruto in 2022.

However, efforts by Uhuru’s allies seems to have faced headwinds from the OKA bandwagon which has given three conditions to the talks…that they can only accept Raila to rejoin them on condition that he reciprocates their previous support by withdrawing his presidential bid.

The Mudavadi group has also insisted that Raila must accept to join as an equal partner and lastly, that they would not accept to be used as rubber stamps to endorse a candidate by some State honchos.

“Some powerful individuals in government and in business circles have approached us with the proposal that we support Raila’s presidential bid because he has the numbers, and the network. But we are reluctant to buy that idea,” Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo Junior said.

Strong support base

Uhuru and Raila’s allies are reportedly pushing for the candidacy of the former on grounds that not only does he have the financial muscle to battle it out with Ruto, but he also has the political network, strong support base, experience and support from the top business class.

Jubilee Nominated MP Maina Kamanda, a close ally of Raila,  last evening said that they were doing everything possible to ensure the former premier is on the ballot in 2022.

“We have done our mathematics, which combined with findings from the National Intelligence Service (NIS), indicates that Raila is the only person who can defeat Ruto in the elections,” he said.

Sources intimated that the meeting would among other things, discuss possible options should the Court of Appeal throw out the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) case next week, formation of a formidable alliance in 2022 to face Ruto and a possibility of accommodating some allies of the five leaders in President Uhuru’s government for the remainder of his term.