Senate Minority Deputy Whip Janet Ong’era has opened up about 2013 Cord coalition’s Memorandum of Understanding that has continued to cause sharp divisions within the opposition coalition.
The coalition has been rocked with controversy over the person who be its flag bearer in 2017 with Wiper’s Kalonzo Musyoka and Ford Kenya’s Moses Wetangula keen to carry the mantle.
Speaking on Thursday at Kisii, Ong’era dismissed claims that ODM leader Raila Odinga should back Kalonzo for presidency in 2017 saying it would have materialised if Raila became president in 2013.
“As one of the drafters of the MoU, I wish to set the records straight. The MoU provided that Raila serves as president for one term and pass the mantle to Musyoka,” she said.
“But unfortunately, he didn’t become president making the whole thing change," said Ongera.
"Wetangula was to be Senate majority leader but now he serves as the minority leader. The key word was ‘if’ and that should not bring confusion in our coalition,” added the one time ODM chief executive.
She challenged Cord affiliate parties to desist from politicising contents of a document that could be retrieved and called for unity ahead of 2017 polls.
“The MoU is still with the registrar of political parties and its content can be retrieved. We should stop cheap politics and remain intact for 2017 polls,” Ong’era added.
She also said the coalition will be forced to draft a new Memorandum of Understanding since the previous one never worked as intended.
“We are now starting afresh because Raila didn’t win as we expected. We have to sit down and come up with the best method of picking our flag bearer but not making reference to an MoU that expired based on circumstances,” she said.