It's now evident that by 2022, The National Super Alliance (NASA) will be a thing of the past just like Ford, Narc, Cord or even PNU and Jubilee Coalition.
For the past few days, top members of the alliance' affiliates have openly taken on each other head-on, causing further rift.
ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna recently said that the Thursday's Kibra by-election will make the beginning of sourcing for new partners.
Mr Sifuna did not mince words. “We have known these people as parasites and leeches, which we have carried on our back,” said Sifuna in reference to the Amani National Congress (ANC), Wiper and Ford-Kenya parties.
“We have our friends from NASA who want to use the opportunity to formalise their divorce from the coalition,” said Sifuna in an exclusive interview on KTN Point Blank show on Wednesday.
His ANC counterpart Barack Muluka laughed off the plans, daring ODM to immediately walk out of the alliance, which was formed in 2015.
“They are free to leave NASA because it only exists on paper and it’s them (ODM) who keep invoking NASA when they think it favours their cause. They have never honoured any agreement and there is no ceremony required to leave,” Mr Muluka told Sunday Standard on phone.
Trouble in NASA started in 2017 when ODM rejected participation in presidential repeat poll. Raila Odinga had called for total overhaul of IEBC. While ODM organised the pullout, other partners opposed the move.
Controversial swearing-in of Mr Odinga in January 2018 raised further suspicions. Top NASA leaders boycotted the even, with only ODM showing up at Uhuru park. This irked ODM leadership.
The fallout became almost certain when Mr Odinga reconciled with President Uhuru Kenyatta without the knowledge of other NASA partners.
Political Parties fund recently awarded to ODM further escalated the differences, with the Orange party dismissing partners as parasites.
Kitutu Chache South MP Richard Onyonka, also the Ford Kenya Deputy party leader, attributed the bad blood in NASA to sibling rivalry and mutual suspicions.
He identified the controversial swearing in of Raila, the March 2018 handshake, the 2022 succession race, uncertainty over the Building Brides Initiative (BBI) and the political parties kitty as the main issues fueling the rivalry.
“The issue of swearing in of Raila, was a matter that was mishandled and that sparked the current suspicions. The other principles felt Raila had kept them in the dark while Raila’s side feel they were betrayed. Equally, the Handshake created a second feeling of betrayal as the principles were kept in darkness,” Onyonka said.
He added; “In Kenya, when you see many people fight there are two reasons; either money or women. The political parties’ kitty is key among the unresolved issue. It’s my honest opinion that Raila should take half of the money and give to his ODM party and the rest to the partners,” he added.