Kuria accuses Gachagua, Sifuna of undermining Kalonzo’s opposition ambitions

NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 31 – Political strategist and former Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria has revived memories of the 2007 opposition fallout involving Kalonzo Musyoka, arguing that the Wiper leader is once again facing resistance over his presidential ambitions.

In a post on X, Kuria revisited the political tensions that rocked the then ODM Kenya ahead of the 2007 General Election, particularly a confrontation at a rally in Mombasa where Kalonzo was heckled by sections of the crowd.

“On 9th July 2007, ODM (then united as ODM Kenya) held a mammoth rally at Tononoka, Mombasa. Kalonzo Musyoka was badly heckled. That is the day he left the then United Opposition to launch his own Kupita Kati Kati bid,” he said.

In July 2007, Musyoka, who was among the contenders for the ODM-Kenya presidential ticket alongside Raila Odinga, Musalia Mudavadi, Najib Balala, Joe Nyagah and William Ruto, was heckled before leaving Khadija Grounds in Mombasa in a huff.

Reports later emerged, as the campaigns intensified, that Kalonzo had struck a post-election deal with then President Mwai Kibaki’s Party of National Unity (PNU).

He was subsequently appointed Vice President at the height of the 2007-2008 post-election violence, which erupted following protests by Raila Odinga’s supporters over Kibaki’s re-election.

Kalonzo garnered 879,903 votes, representing 8.91 per cent of the total votes cast, in the 2007 presidential election, running on the Orange Democratic Movement-Kenya (ODM-K) ticket.

The closely contested election saw Kibaki secure 4,584,721 votes (46.42 per cent), narrowly defeating Odinga, who garnered 4,352,993 votes (44.07 per cent). The two candidates accounted for the bulk of the 9,877,028 valid votes cast.

Kuria, a key ally of President William Ruto, drew parallels between the 2007 incident and Friday’s launch of the Linda Mwananchi Movement headquarters in Lavington, Nairobi, where Kalonzo’s speech was interrupted by chants of “President Sifuna” and boos from sections of the audience.

“Lavington today was a set up for the same. Riggy G and Sifuna have done that thing to Man Stevo again. This Kamuti of being the Coitus Interruptus of Kenyan politics has to be exorcised. Maybe Ruto will be sent by God to do it,” the former CS said.

Kuria questioned whether Kalonzo was repeatedly finding himself in similar political situations, drawing comparisons with the realignments that preceded the 2013 General Election.

“Tononoka was to tell him kanyanga kubwa kubwa. Five years later in 2012, Uhuru and Ruto had to jettison Kalonzo for their maths to math,” Kuria stated.