Caption: Wiper Party Patron Stephen Kalonzo at a past function. Photo source: zipo.co.ke
Wiper Party Patron Stephen Kalonzo has ruled out possibilities that the National Super Alliance (NASA) affiliated political parties will hold joint primaries before the forthcoming general election.
The issue of joint nomination is already causing a storm in different parties within NASA with a section of new entrants alleging that the alliance wants to lock them out of the August polls.
Speaking to the aspirants on Tuesday in Nairobi, Kalonzo said that candidates eyeing different seats in all parties affiliated to NASA are entitled to face each other as democracy states.
“... We want to give everybody an opportunity to present themselves to the electorate,” he said, as quoted by the Nation.
In Mombasa, for instance, the idea of joint nominations re-ignited the rivalry between Senator Hassan Omar and Governor Ali Hassan Joho with the latter backing it.
Addressing a small delegation from Makueni County led by Governor Kivutha Kibwana who was returning his nomination papers to the party, Kalonzo asked aspirants not to panic. Kalonzo's sentiments contradict those made by Amani National Congress (ANC) Musalia Mudavadi who said that NASA’s joint nominations will be different from what many people are thinking.
“The planned Nasa joint nominations will be an exception, and not the rule,” Mudavadi said.