Retired President Uhuru Kenyatta and Azimio boss Raila Odinga might be in for a rude shock as the Kenya Kwanza brigade plots to frustrate their nominees to East Africa Legislative Assembly.
Close allies of the two Azimio luminaries are the target of a well calculated scheme being plotted by President William Ruto's troops in Parliament.
If it succeeds, it would be a devastating blow to Uhuru and Raila just three months after a narrow loss of the presidential election.
ODM has submitted six names for its two slots in the regional Parliament while Jubilee has three names for its single slot.
ODM has two favourites: Raila’s daughter Winnie Odinga and Coast businessman Suleiman Shabal.
However, a section of Kenya Kwanza leaders are plotting to frustrate their bid.
A number of UDA MPs from Mt Kenya told the Star that they are under instruction to shoot down the names of both former Kieni MP Kanini Kega and Jubilee secretary general Jeremiah Kioni for their alleged role in campaigning against Ruto in the runner up to August 9 General Election.
The Orange party nominated Winnie, Shabal, former lawmakers Justus Kizito (Shinyalu), Mohamed Diriye (Wajir South), Timothy Bosire (Kitutu Masaba) and former Turkana CEC Beatrice Askul.
Jubilee on the other hand presented former MPs Kega, Kioni and former Wajir Woman Representative Fatuma Gedi for the November 17 vote.
Speaking to the Star, Minority Leader Opiyo Wandayi however denied the coalition is having any favourite candidates from the list of 12 that Azimio presented on Tuesday.
“We have no favourites, all the 12 candidates are our candidates and we wish them all the best,” Wandayi said.
ODM MPs from Western Kenya, for instance, insist they must get one of the slots to compensate for what they claim is a biased reward scheme by the minority party.
The Star has established that several UDA lawmakers from Western Kenyan have teamed up with their Azimio counterparts from the region to have one of their own take one of the ODM slots.
The Western MPs are rallying behind former MP Kizito who hails from that region.
The Western lawmakers from Kenya Kwanza and Azimio have scheduled a joint retreat in Maanzoni Lodge, Machakos county, on Sunday to mobilise support for Kizito.
Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna on Thursday confirmed he has been invited to the meeting whose agenda, he noted, will be to lobby for Kizito and candidates from the region.
“I have been invited. We will want to lobby for candidates from our region,” Sifuna told the Star on phone.
The lawmakers argued that Western Kenya has got a raw deal from the manner the minority side has allocated parliamentary positions so far.
For the first time, Western is missing from both the minority and majority positions and only relegated to committee chairpersons and vice chairpersons.
The area also failed to clinch a slot at the powerful seven-member Parliamentary Service Commission.
As the Western UDA wing execute their plot to fix Raila, Ruto’s troops from Central Kenya are also baying for the blood of Kioni and Kega who alongside Gedi are battling for the single Jubilee slot.
A number of UDA MPs from Mt Kenya told the Star that they are under instruction to shoot down both Kanini and Kioni for their alleged role in campaigning against Ruto in the runner up to August 9 General Election.
The move might see Gedi - who was a last minute inclusion to the Jubilee list after replacing Ruth Mwaniki - sail smoothly to Arusha.
“The two should not even dare, they should not expect anything different from the yellow wave of August 9. We will confirm that on Thursday,” a first-time UDA lawmaker from Central told the Star.
Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa told the Star that the ruling Kenya Kwanza coalition has scheduled a Parliamentary Group meeting on Tuesday, two days to voting, to decide those they will support.
“What I know as Kenya Kwanza we will have a PG on Tuesday for all of us to agree on which names to support,” Barasa said.
Yesterday, lobbying intensified at Parliament Buildings with the nominees pitching for their candidatures ahead of the Thursday vote.
Winnie has been camping in Parliament for the last two days wooing lawmakers to consider her candidature.
“I am here to lobby for the position of East Africa Legislative Assembly. I have been here for the past two days, I have talked to a number of MPs,” Winnie said on Thursday.
In the UDA list are former Mombasa Hassan Omar, ex-nominated MP David Sankok and former Nandi Woman representative Zipporah Kering.
Others are Rebecca Lewoiya, Godfrey Karobia, Joel Nyambane, Fredrick Muteti, Falhadha Dekow, Abdikadir Omar, Anne Too, Jonas Kuko, Cyprian Iringo, Lilian Cheptoo, Yasser Ali and Salim Mohammed.
The 28 candidates including one independent candidate have up to Wednesday next week to lobby the lawmakers who will vote the following day simultaneously in the two Houses.
Duncan Mwangi Ndegwa, representing persons with disability, was the only independent candidate cleared out of the 16 who applied under independent candidates category.
Edited by Henry Makori