Tony Gachoka Factor In The G7

[nowayhaha]

Tony Gachoka known to have been the "political strategist" for Ngilu-1997 ,Orengo-2002 ,Raila-2007 and currently Wamalwa and Ngilu might cost the G7 the election as proven in all the presidential polls not a single candidate in which he was involved in strategizing ever won the election.

Its no secret he is the one who managed to sneak Ngilu in G7 thus elbowing Kalonzo out and also has derailed any serious alliance making with Mudavadi's UDF for the fear Mudavadi is a more serious contender than Wamalwa. If Tony Gachoka continues to get his way in decision making in G7 as it is now we might as well see a Raila presidency come 2013.


www.nation.co.ke/News/politics/Why-Ruto-and-Uhuru-are-yet-to-sign-G7-elections-deal/-/1064/1617738/-/u9qy4wz/-/index.html

www.nation.co.ke/News/politics/Arch+rivals+shift+camp+as+new+alliances+are+cemented+/-/1064/1617046/-/tklxlfz/-/index.html


Turf wars involving Cabinet ministers Charity Ngilu and Eugene Wamalwa are delaying the signing of a pre-election coalition deal by presidential aspirants in the G7 Alliance, we can reveal.

Sources close to the negotiations between Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta (TNA) and Eldoret North MP William Ruto (URP) say the latter’s team is wary of the pace with which the two ministers want the pact concluded.

MPs who have been attending the negotiations said Mrs Ngilu’s Narc wants the deal signed as soon as possible to eliminate the possibility of her political rival, Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, being brought on board. It is instructive that Mr Musyoka has already withdrawn from the political grouping.

On his part, Mr Wamalwa (New Ford Kenya) is pushing for a quick deal to ensure that UDF presidential aspirant Musalia Mudavadi does not join the alliance.

On Sunday, in what could add to the cracks that have already emerged in the G7 Alliance following threats by Cabinet minister Chirau Ali Mwakwere and assistant minister Kazungu Kambi to quit, Mrs Ngilu said she would talk to other leaders since the deal had not been signed.

“I haven’t signed any pre-election coalition with Uhuru and Ruto; we are just engaging each other as party leaders and my party will continue to consult across the divide,” she said by phone from Mombasa.

The Water minister said her recent dalliance with Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto did not mean she had severed links with Prime Minister Raila Odinga. Her ally, Mutito MP Kiema Kilonzo, however, said their decision to join the G7 Alliance was not meant to kick out Mr Musyoka who has since pulled out.

“When we joined, we wanted the entire (Kamba) community to be part of the coalition because we knew he was there. We are surprised that he has bolted out,” he said by phone.

It is not lost on observers that despite her active engagement with Mr Odinga’s rivals in the next elections, the PM and his ODM allies have kept a studious silence.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has set December 4 as the deadline for political parties which want to enter into coalitions to submit the deals to the Registrar of Political Parties.

URP’s Charles Keter said Mr Wamalwa and Mrs Ngilu were negotiating directly with Mr Kenyatta’s TNA without their involvement.

“They have been talking with TNA for long and all we know is that it will be an agreement between them. We will come on board after that,” said the Belgut MP.

The URP spokesman said the party was still holding talks with Mr Mudavadi and Mr Musyoka to form a broad coalition. “We in URP are talking to Kalonzo and Musalia. We believe in unity of the country and we are working for a united Kenya.”

At the Coast, Mr Mwakwere and Mr Kambi have declared that they would rather defect from the G7 Alliance than share a table with Mr Najib Balala of the Republican Congress Party. The two are members of Mr Ruto’s URP.

“We as Mijikenda leaders will not accept Mr Balala to be the Coast leader in the G7 political pact. We cannot accept to play second fiddle — not any more,” said Mr Kambi.

He challenged Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto to pick the region’s spokesman from the Mijikenda community.

Mr Mwakwere, who is also the Matuga MP, said Kaya elders had warned him against working with Mr Balala in any coalition. (READ: Cracks in G7 as allies in Coast reject Balala)

On Sunday, Likoni politician Khamis Ali Domoko told off Mr Mwakwere and Mr Kambi, saying they did not have the people’s mandate to choose leaders for them.

[mugabe]

political strategist my foot. clueless

[50cents]

[Luol Deng]

7 turkeys don't make an eagle........ as Vic Gundotra of Google could have put it.

[nowayhaha]

standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000070672&story_title=Why-Uhuru,-Ruto-deal-must-wait

By Alex Ndegwa and Martin Mutua

NAIROBI, KENYA: Coalition talks between Mr Uhuru Kenyatta and Mr William Ruto have slackened because of their competing interests and precautions both sides have taken to avert a raw deal.

The negotiations by National Alliance presidential aspirant and United Democratic Party flag-bearer have apparently run into the harder part of who else should be brought on board and both sides seemingly are not agreed on this aspect.

With three weeks to the statutory deadline for parties to submit their pre-election coalition agreements, and with URP facing challenges in marketing a URP-TNA alliance in Rift Valley, the Ruto side is now working on a strategy to have this deadline extended.

The disagreements have reportedly caused tension between the two groups; making it necessary for them buy time to let the sticky issues be ironed out.

As an indicator of their unease and dissatisfaction with the direction the negotiations is taking, URP reportedly did not send representatives to a delegation Uhuru has been leading to meet regional Presidents over The Hague case facing him and Ruto.

Uhuru who has embarked on shuttle diplomacy to endear his team to the regional leaders ahead of the March 4 elections has seen his team visit Tanzania’s President Jakaya Kikwete, Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunzinza and the latest being South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir.

There are also plans to visit Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni in the next few days.

The Standard learnt URP is apprehensive that new entrants to the mooted alliance, apparently through TNA, are driving away Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka of Wiper Democratic Movement and United Democratic Front aspirant, Mr Musalia Mudavadi.

Potential ally

Sources within the two sides revealed the stand-off, which they anticipate would be resolved quickly, revolved around URP’s demand that the agreement cannot be signed until it has factored in Kalonzo and Musalia. This way they argued they would be assured of a win in the first round.

However, officially both Kalonzo and Musalia, though having their own negotiations for an alliance, have maintained they are in the presidential race and won’t back out.

However, the so-called new entrants into the G7 Alliance — Water Minister Charity Ngilu and Mutito MP Kiema Kilonzo — are reportedly pressing for a quick deal to be sealed in order to lock out Kalonzo.

Equally, Justice Minister Eugene Wamalwa, who is a member of New Ford Kenya and was earlier, perceived to be Uhuru’s running mate, is also reportedly in a hurry to seal a deal that will see Mudavadi also locked out.

Alongside Nominated MP Musikari Kombo with whom he shares a party and who has also been in Uhuru’s delegation to the regional heads, Wamalwa has bitter political rivalry with Mudavadi for the Western Kenya, which each claims to command. It’s also what they have been using to cast themselves as a potential ally other aspirants should look out for.

“TNA is falling into Ngilu-Kiema machinations to undermine Kalonzo,” said an MP close to Ruto. “URP does not approve of these schemes to intimidate the VP and Uhuru has been briefed on the same,” he went on.

The MP, who cannot be quoted for fear of repercussions within the party, revealed URP skipped Uhuru’s missions to regional leaders.

“While URP had representatives during the visit to Tanzania, the party was not represented in the recent visits to Bujumbura, Burundi, and Juba,” added the legislator.

At the same time another MP in the Uhuru camp who preferred anonymity told The Standard the threat by both Mudavadi and Kalonzo to form their own alliance was not auguring well within their camp.

“There is the feeling that if let to go their way, the two could destabilise our game plan because after their campaigns, if they were to join the ODM team, this would complicate matters for us,” argued the MP.

However, Cabinet minister Dr Naomi Shaban, an ally of Uhuru, exuded confidence the TNA-URP team had nothing to fear. Shaban told The Standard that as the days go by with new alliances coming up, they too were devising new strategies to counter them. “We are not just watching what is happening. The more things change the more we up our ground game to raise the bar and we have nothing to worry as we know how we are placed,” she added.

Sharing of positions

During the first trip for talks with regional heads, Medical Services Assistant minister Kazungu Kambi represented URP in Uhuru delegation. But Uhuru flew to Burundi’s capital-Bujumbura, with Wamalwa, Ngilu and Kiema among other MPs.

The other dispute between URP-TNA reportedly revolves around the criteria for sharing of positions in the coalition structure because the late entrants have upset initial proposals.

There is also a standoff over how parties plan to share funding given to parties by the State through the Consolidated Fund. The two sides are reportedly wary of a situation like that which hit the Party of National Unity when Narc-Kenya’s aspirant Martha Karua pulled out her party and went ahead to get her share of funding from the State.

Sources further say no conclusive deal can be sealed yet on how government positions would be distributed within the coalition given efforts to reach out to Kalonzo and Mudavadi are still ongoing and their interests must also be taken care of if they have to be won over.
The public statements by both Kalonzo and Mudavadi to disown reports of discussions with Prime Minister Raila Odinga have reportedly downplayed the suspicions from the other group.

It is against this background that URP came up with the strategy of moving forward the December 4 deadline for parties to deposit their pre-election coalition agreements.

Chepalungu MP Isaac Ruto — an ally of Mr William Ruto — confirmed the proposed amendment seeks to push the date for signing the pre-coalition pacts to January next year.

While it is believed it would enjoy the support of majority of members of the House, which reopens on Tuesday, there are concerns about the implication on other electoral timelines.

Verify legality

Education Minister Mutula Kilonzo, who served as Justice Minister, argues there is a reason why it was decided the agreements be deposited three months before elections. He argued the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission needs the time to verify the legality of the coalitions to contest various elective seats and plan for electoral materials, including ballot papers.

“Although I don’t support it, I know for a fact if such an amendment comes to the House when it reconvenes next week it will surely pass because of interests MPs have on the postponement,” he added.

“Supposing a coalition comes a day before the elections and doesn’t qualify in accordance with Article 92 of the Constitution that governs political parties what would happen?” asked Mutula.

[nowayhaha]

www.nation.co.ke/News/politics/Ruto-and-Uhuru-allies-clash-on-Cabinet-jobs/-/1064/1620308/-/mk7f58z/-/index.html

Ruto, Uhuru allies clash on Cabinet jobs


Mr Uhuru Kenyatta’s TNA and William Ruto’s URP are locked in a battle over the sharing of the 22 Cabinet slots in a coalition they plan to announce by the end of the month.

The differences came as Mr Ruto told supporters in Nairobi that he was still in the presidential race, contradicting earlier claims the he would be Mr Kenyatta’s running mate.

MPs privy to the negotiations said URP was demanding 11 of the 22 slots and the National Assembly speaker’s position for the party’s chairman, Mr Francis ole Kaparo.

Mr Ruto’s negotiating team wants Mr Kenyatta to share the seats set aside for TNA with New Ford Kenya’s Eugene Wamalwa and Water minister Charity Ngilu of Narc.

“Our interest is clear; we are negotiating on a 50-50 basis. Narc and New Ford Kenya belong to TNA. Our negotiations are based on each party’s worth. So what TNA gets, they will have to share with their friends, for us, we are talking as URP and we have no extra load on us,” said Belgut MP Charles Keter.

He went on: “ Eugene and Charity are talking directly to Uhuru Kenyatta. They have been holding negotiations for a long time. We only come in when their deal is done.”
Apart from the 11 Cabinet slots TNA will get the slot for senate speaker.

On Wednesday, assistant minister Kareke Mbiuki said TNA was not comfortable with URP’s proposal. (READ: Why Ruto and Uhuru are yet to sign G7 elections deal)

“We want collective negotiations so that the burden of sharing the Cabinet positions and any other government positions becomes the responsibility of the two principles.

"We want our brothers from the URP not to negotiate selfishly because I can foresee a situation where things may slip out of our hands if we are not careful,” said Mr Mbiuki.

He said seats should be shared based on the votes delivered by each party. “If URP is demanding 50 per cent, then what will other parties get? What will Merus get? What will Kisiis get? We are not comfortable with that demand,” said Mr Mbiuki.

Earlier, Mr Ruto told a press conference at his URP offices that he was still in the presidential race.

“Who told you I want to be a running mate? URP is a serious national party with a serious agenda, a serious contender. It is here to stay and will be there after the elections,” he told journalists in Nairobi.

Elsewhere in Kapsabet, Mr Musyoka claimed Mr Ruto chose to pitch tent with people who could not be trusted.

“I wanted William Ruto to be my running mate but he was not willing. Some now want him to be their running mate,” said the Wiper presidential aspirant.

In Nairobi, MPs allied to Mr Mudavadi of the United Democratic Forum (UDF) and Mr Musyoka said the two leaders met on Monday evening for four hours and agreed on the structure of their own coalition. They are also planning to start holding joint rallies.

The structure was prepared by MPs David Musila (Wiper), Charles Kilonzo (Wiper), Boni Khalwale (UDF) and Jeremiah Kioni (UDF).

“The leaders of the two parties met on Monday and agreed that they should work together. They will now inform members of their respective parties so that they can start working as a team,” said Mr Kilonzo, who is also Yatta MP.

[nowayhaha]

www.nation.co.ke/News/politics/G7-Alliance-leaders-now-reach-out-to-Kalonzo-and-Mudavadi/-/1064/1621304/-/r0xnu0/-/index.html

The G7 Alliance has renewed efforts to bring on board Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka and Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi ahead of the December 4 deadline for registering pre-election coalitions.

Eldoret North MP William Ruto of the United Republican Party (URP) on Wednesday night met Mr Musyoka (Wiper Democratic Party) at his Karen residence for four hours to discuss working together. (READ: Ruto will lose in G7, says Kalonzo)

A meeting scheduled between Deputy PM Uhuru Kenyatta of The National Alliance (TNA) and Mr Mudavadi of the United Democratic Forum (UDF) failed to take place after the former was held up in Gatundu. The meeting has since been moved to next week.

On Thursday, Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto appeared to confirm talks with Mr Musyoka and Mr Mudavadi when they said their aim was to unite all Kenyans.

“Contrary to what our detractors are saying, TNA and URP will work with other parties to unite Kenya,” said Mr Kenyatta.

URP spokesman Aden Duale and Ikolomani MP Boni Khalwale (UDF) confirmed the meetings.

“It is true that the URP presidential candidate held a meeting with the Vice-President in Karen. They actually met for four hours to explore ways of working together in a coalition,” said Mr Duale on phone from Narok where URP was holding a campaign rally.

Dr Khalwale said Mr Mudavadi was open to talks with parties pursuing a national agenda.

“We have said that our intention is to go beyond communities and build a national coalition. This is why we have allowed our presidential aspirant to talk to his colleagues in an effort to attain that goal,” he said.

The decision to approach Mr Musyoka and Mr Mudavadi comes a day after it was revealed that the planned coalition between Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto had hit a wall over the sharing of Cabinet slots.

On Thursday, Mr Duale said URP was not in a hurry to sign a coalition deal with Mr Kenyatta, Mr Eugene Wamalwa of New Ford Kenya, Mrs Charity Ngilu of Narc and Mvita MP Najib Balala of the Republican Congress Party under the G7 Alliance.

The party’s aim, he said, was to come up with a broad national coalition that can win the elections by garnering 70 per cent of the vote in the first round.

“URP is not going to be rushed to sign a coalition agreement. We are not in a hurry at all. We want to build a coalition which unites all Kenyans and that is why Mr Ruto met the Vice-President. He is also reaching out to the UDF presidential candidate (Mr Mudavadi),” he said.

Mr Musyoka quit the G7 Alliance after he was offered a lesser position, believed to be the Majority Leader in Parliament, by Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto. He has since held talks with Mr Mudavadi, who has not been a member of the alliance, for a possible coalition. The UDF flag-bearer has not ruled out talks with G7 Alliance leaders.

Even as he sought to build a coalition, Mr Mudavadi declared that he will not give up his presidential bid.

“In UDF there is no compromise on his presidential candidature. We can negotiate anything else, but the position of presidential candidate is not negotiable,” he told supporters at Kabula in Bumula Constituency.

He said it was embarrassing that leaders from the province were being given junior positions in alliances.

“There are those negotiating themselves out of a job, I am negotiating myself into the job”, he said

In Nairobi, Cabinet ministers Moses Wetang’ula (Ford Kenya), Fred Gumo (ODM), and MPs Cyrus Jirongo ( Federal Party of Kenya) and Chris Okemo (ODM) met at Sankara Hotel in a bid to unite Luhya leaders behind one presidential aspirant

[mwalimumkuu]

Nowayhaha,

To be honest I really do not understand the value of Charity Ngilu and Kiema Kilonzo to this alliance not unless thwir main brief is drive away Kalonzo Musyoka. Ngilu is a spend force and no longer the attractive politician of yester years. She allowed herself to be wasted by the ODM and has never recovered.

[reporter911]

Nov 16, 2012 15:21:30 GMT 3 mwalimumkuu said:

Nowayhaha,

To be honest I really do not understand the value of Charity Ngilu and Kiema Kilonzo to this alliance not unless thwir main brief is drive away Kalonzo Musyoka. Ngilu is a spend force and no longer the attractive politician of yester years. She allowed herself to be wasted by the ODM and has never recovered.

Can't compare Charity Ngilu to Uhuru she in her own right has more value than Uhuru or Ruto she doesn't carry the ICC-case Baggage!! ;D that means she should have an upper hand when negotiating with Uhuruto camp!

[raiswakesho]

Nov 16, 2012 15:21:30 GMT 3 mwalimumkuu said:

Nowayhaha,

To be honest I really do not understand the value of Charity Ngilu and Kiema Kilonzo to this alliance not unless thwir main brief is drive away Kalonzo Musyoka. Ngilu is a spend force and no longer the attractive politician of yester years. She allowed herself to be wasted by the ODM and has never recovered.

Mwalimu,
How was Ngilu wasted by ODM?