Raila, Kalonzo plan to join Parliament

By Geoffrey Mosoku

NAIROBI, KENYA: The Coalition for Reforms and Democracy is working out ways for Mr Raila Odinga and Mr Kalonzo Musyoka, their top leaders, to become Members of Parliament.

The two intend to take charge of the Opposition directly and lead a campaign to ensure devolution takes root as prescribed in the Constitution.

MPs are discussing ways to have the Prime Minister and Vice President either nominated or elected to seats in the National Assembly to provide leadership to the Opposition. This could involve asking some among them to quit their jobs.  

“These are not people to be left outside Parliament after getting the support of over five million people,” says Tigania East MP Mpuru Aburi says.

The Standard On Saturday has established that a CORD parliamentary group meeting held at Raila’s Karen residence on Thursday discussed the proposal. The two principals listened but remained non-committal on the matter.

Many who attended the meeting said the idea was mooted by Machakos Senator Johnstone Muthama, who argued that the presence of the two in the House would boost the morale of coalition MPs. Several other leaders supported the idea but could not agree on how to approach it.

Most MPs are pushing for the nominations approach. They are exploring ways of getting around regulations that require the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to pick a replacement from party lists filed before the election if a nominated MP resigns. Any amendment to bring in new names can only be done if the entire list is exhausted.

To find a loophole, MPs have tasked CORD’s lawyers to write to IEBC seeking an interpretation of party list provisions in the Elections Act.

Change names

“Our argument is that the party list was only for purposes of the 2013 General Election, which has since passed, and the party can change the names (of the possible replacements) if a nominated MP opts to resign,” an MP close to Raila said. Should this line of attack not work, all the possible replacements still on ODM’s and Wiper’s lists would be asked to step aside.

Other legislators proposed that two elected MPs in ‘safe’ seats opt to resign to pave way for a by-election in which the PM and VP can make their way back into the august House.

Sources said at least three MPs had offered to step aside to accommodate their leaders.

The MPs would be compensated with about Sh30 million, the cash equivalent of the five-year salary they would be giving up.
The details of this move have not been finalized. The matter will be picked up at a party meeting next week before Parliament resumes on April 16.

Mpuru Aburi, a close ally of Raila, said CORD’s leaders could only keep the Opposition united if they are inside Parliament.

“The country needs a strong Opposition, especially with signs that some people are determined to take us back to the one party era,” he said. The Tigania East legislator said MPs would first try the nomination route and, if it fails, find volunteers in CORD strongholds to quit and force a by-election.
“I am one of those who were pushing for this agenda,” Aburi said. ”I can assure you the proposal has received wide support.”

A key Kalonzo ally, Joe Mutambo (Mwingi Central, Wiper) also confirmed the proposal saying: “We must find a way of bringing them to Parliament.”
Mutambo said the coalition was determined to get positions inside the House for both the PM and VP, to provide leadership.

Sources intimate that the Registrar of Political Parties had advised parties to reserve nomination slots for their flag bearers last year, but most officials developed cold feet fearing it would send the wrong message to supporters. “Ms (Lucy) Ndung’u told us that parties are associated with personalities who will ensure vibrant entities. She warned us of the risk of not reserving slots for our party leaders,” an MP said. “This is now haunting us.”

Agenda for country

During the Thursday Parliamentary Group meeting summoned by Raila, the CORD leaders said they had met to deliberate on how to push their parliamentary agenda. Raila and Kalonzo reaffirmed to the country that they were ready to play the role of Opposition with the VP saying they can effectively lobby their party MPs even if they are outside Parliament.

The VP, who walked to the press conference holding hands with Raila, said the Cord alliance had an agenda for the country and would implement it from the opposition benches and through devolution.

“We have a very strong team here. The three of us have resolved to work together and ensure the letter and spirit of the Constitution is adhered to,” he said in the company of Bungoma senator Moses Wetang’ula and Raila.

The Thursday meeting came only a day after Raila hosted county representatives from Nairobi for lunch, a forum at which he signaled that the political battle was not yet over for him.

Many pundits and critics have written off the 69-year-old premier, who they believe will not engage in further competitive politics after losing in his third quest for the presidency

However, if CORD’s moves materialise, both the PM and VP will get a forum from which they can re-activate their networks after taking stock of what went wrong in the General Election.

Raila and Kalonzo are scheduled to begin a meet-the-county-representatives tour to “thank residents and encourage the county governments to fight for full devolution”.