Coalition deals? Only after 2022 polls, Ruto party says

Deputy President William Ruto’s camp will only sign coalition deals with small parties that support the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) based on their performance in parliamentary and gubernatorial polls in 2022.

This is one of the conditions the team has set, which means the DP will not negotiate power-sharing deals with these parties prior to elections, but only after, should he win the presidential vote.

He has yielded to pressure from the parties that did not want to dissolve but are pushing to field their own candidates while riding on his State House bid.

This new demand is a case of giving with one hand and taking away with the other, as a post-election agreement will mean only dealing with outfits that have shown numerical strength.

Pacts and promises made before elections, the camp argues, become difficult to break when affiliated outfits fail to perform as expected.

Their own resources

This would also mean that, candidates of these parties will have to compete against UDA candidates with their own resources.

Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria of Chama Cha Kazi (CCK), former Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri of The Service Party (TSP) and Isaac Ruto of Chama Cha Mashinani (CCM) have all said they back the DP for President, but have rejected calls to dissolve their parties and instead want a coalition agreement with UDA, which is already poaching from these friendly parties in a scheme to weaken them.

Juja MP George Koimburi of People’s Empowerment Party (PEP), whom Mr Kuria campaigned for to win the seat during a by-election early this year, has defected to the DP’s camp. The MP will host the DP during his homecoming party at AIPCA Matangini on Friday.

UDA has also snatched TSP’s secretary-general Karungo wa Thang’wa.

“We have not told anyone to fold tribal or regional political parties. What we have decided is to deliberately form UDA as a national party,” Mr Ruto said recently.

While UDA is happy to have all affiliate parties back them under the DP’s ‘Hustler Nation’ umbrella, they have no plans for pre-election coalition talks with the parties, said secretary-general Veronica Maina.

Ms Maina advised the parties supporting the Ruto presidential bid not to come aboard with demands for pre-election pacts. “These parties have been busy using our name to make themselves relevant by claiming that we have asked them to fold and join UDA. We’ve not asked any of them to do so. Let them continue building their parties as we build UDA to be a national party which accommodates everyone,” she said.

She added: “UDA is not in any coalition talks and there are no such plans. We’re not going to give them a platform to start demanding positions. If they are supporting us in our presidential bid, let us meet as competitors in other seats.”

But even as Ms Maina shuts the door on a pre-election coalition, the small parties seem to have humbled the DP, who has said several times that ethnic parties — seen to refer to the small parties either backing or opposing him — should not be entertained.

Speaking in Kipkaren, Uasin Gishu County, recently, the DP said he would not allow anyone to coerce him with what he described as “tribal parties”.

“We had our party — Jubilee, [which welcomed some people, who then proceeded to destroy it]. And because we believe in God, we said we will come up with a political party for all hustlers across the country,” he said.

“We’re not going to talk about coalitions at the moment. We’re focusing on the bottom-up economic model. Where we have mutual interest, we will work together for that specific interest. For instance, in Juja, did we have to merge? But there’s no legal agreement binding us together to the extent that we’re barred from fielding candidates in certain areas.”

Mr Kuria has fired yet another warning shot at UDA, saying, its decision to lock them out of a 2022 pre-poll coalition might be their biggest undoing. This, he said, will have repercussions that are likely to hurt the DP’s presidential quest.

“Let them not think that they’ve achieved it and it will be a painful lesson for them,” Mr Kuria told the Nation.

Both Mr Kuria and Mr Kiunjuri have maintained that they’re using their political parties to champion the interests of the vote-rich Mt Kenya region.

‘I’m not very stupid...’

Mr Kiunjuri has said he is keen on strengthening his party and fielding candidates, and he will not fold it in support of any presidential aspirant.

“I’m not very stupid to have TSP. This will enable the region to have bargaining power when it comes to demanding a fair share,” he said.

Meru Senator Mithika Linturi told the Nation that UDA will only engage in coalition talks after the parties have proved that they have numbers.

“We’re ready to work with small parties and not enter into a coalition at the moment. If we will have a coalition, we will have it after the 2022 General Election after they have demonstrated that they have many MPs, governors, among others, or have enough numbers to run a government,” Senator Linturi said.

Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua said they are not going to enter into a coalition with individuals who have parties but no followers.

“Moses Kuria, what is his strength? Yes, he is from Mt Kenya but when he comes, he is just alone, same as Mwangi Kiunjuri, but those who are in UDA, we are over 60,” he said in an interview recently.

Murang’a Senator Irungu Kang’ata said they expect small parties affiliated to their movement to support them without a formal agreement. “The DP’s message has been consistent. Anyone who wishes to support him, including a party leader, is welcomed to do so. Ruto will never and has never put any conditions on his supporters,” he said.

“Some have misconstrued his agenda to sell UDA as an exclusionary effort to ignore other parties. The truth is, he will sell UDA and he will not enter into a formal pre-election agreement with any party. But this does not mean owners of other parties cannot support him. They are at liberty to do so.”

CCM has said it supports the DP’s State House quest unconditionally.

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