What began as Wiper’s move to seek greener pasture in a new coalition will turn to be a step that will see the collapse of National Super Alliance (Nasa) or Kalonzo led party finding the road to bliss rocky with difficult terrain.
A clause in the Nasa coalition agreement as been deemed as the toughest hurdle on any possible exit.
Kalonzo-led party has already begun the process of leaving the coalition while some coalition partners were quick to point out that the move won’t be an easy one.
The argument is that through the divorce, the affiliate parties including Opposition Chief Raila Odinga’s ODM, Moses Wetangula’s Ford Kenya, and Musalia Mudavadi’s ANC are connected by the coalition agreement.
The deal states that the coalition shall stand dissolved when any of the three parties decide to leave.
“The coalition shall stand dissolved where any of the three of the coalition parties decide to leave the coalition,” reads Article 15 of the agreement.
According to ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi, for any member of the coalition to walk out, other partners, the Registrar of Political Parties, and the leadership of the tow Houses must be notified because of the composition of the committees.
“We have heard that some of our partners saying they are moving out of Nasa but they have been afraid to evoke the resolution clause in the agreement. My hunch is they fear the possible backlash given the support our movement enjoys across the country,” Mudavadi said.
“We settled at three to ensure solidarity and make the alliance difficult to break. There must be a fundamental reason and one must build a strong consensus of the three parties to agree to dissolve or walk out of the movement,” Mudavadi told a local daily.
At the center of turmoil in Nasa is the sharing of Sh4.1 billion windfall from the Political Parties Fund that has prompted the Treasury to hold the money.
ODM that was given the billions by the Court of Appeal has maintained that it owes nothing to the Nasa affiliate parties – ANC, Ford Kenya, and Wiper.
According to ODM officials, the party was no longer bound by Nasa coalition.
ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna said Nasa died on January 21, 2018, when Raila took the oath as the “People’s President”.
“It can exist on paper but the reality on the ground is different. Which organ of the coalition is working? How can you live if your lungs, brains, and heart are dead? Sifuna posed.
“ODM is Nasa. We are the owners of the coalition. Those who want to move out can move out. A man does not abandon his house after they have differed with his wife” he added.
Sifuna said it was not true ODM was in Nasa because of the political parties’ money. He stated that the money is not given to the coalition but individual parties.
Party Political Affairs Director Opiyo Wandayi said ODM’s cooperation with Jubilee cannot be binding since it does not exist in law therefore Nasa partners should not hide under the issue of oversight to claim that those cooperation hand abandoned their duties.
Wandayi added: “In case the coalition is dissolved, ODM will remain the minority party in Parliament owing to its strength with the numbers.”
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He challenged the Wiper party to cross the floor and then feel the full effect of the coalition agreement.
But Ford Kenya Secretary-General wants the coalition dissolved because its members have has disassociated with it.
Wamalwa noted that ODM and Wiper had already left the coalition is currently working with the government while ANC has indicated that it is not willing to stay.
