RAILA ODINGA WAS THE LAST RESORT…
Excerpt from the book “Against All Odds”…Kalonzo Musyoka’s Autobiography:
“…I clearly remember the night I felt betrayed by Uhuru and Ruto. This was the night our alliance died. We had agreed with Ruto that I would be on the presidential ticket, with Uhuru as my running mate or vice versa. Ruto was to be the Majority Leader.
Then on that night, Uhuru and Ruto arrived at my home in the company of Jimmy Wanjigi, a Nairobi businessman and political strategist. Mr Wanjigi is the son of former Kamukunji Member of Parliament and Moi era Cabinet minister, Maina Wanjigi. We walked down to the gazebo where dinner was to be served.
It was at this point I realised that things had changed.
Ruto and Jimmy sat silently as Uhuru spoke: “Stephen,” he said, “We have decided that you should choose some other position, but not the presidency or deputy presidency.’’ I was stunned. I did not know at what point the arrangement we had earlier, of me being on the presidential ticket, had been changed.
There was silence in the gazebo. As tension rose, Uhuru suddenly stood up, pushed his seat back and stepped out of the sliding glass door. He walked five steps to the waterfall, removed a packet from his jacket pocket and pulled out a cigarette. Holding it in his left hand, he lit it with a lighter in his right hand and furiously puffed on it. Uhuru finished smoking. He threw the smouldering stub on the ground, stumped on it with his left foot and ground it into the green grass.
When he walked back into the gazebo, he sat down and casually said: “My brother, in the spirit of transparency, I wish to inform you that tomorrow we are flying to Bujumbura to meet with President Pierre Nkurunziza and our sister Charity Ngilu will accompany us.” They had decided to throw me under the bus. Now in effect, they were telling me: “If you do not take what you are being offered, Ngilu will take your place in our alliance. After the meeting,I consulted my allies, including Musila & Muthama, and the process of teaming up again with Raila Odinga started.”
Raila Odinga was the last resort; not the priority.