Mudavadi: Single Luhya presidential candidate idea unrealistic
Amani Coalition leader Musalia Mudavadi has dismissed, as a waste of time, a campaign by a section of Luhya politicians to field a single presidential candidate from the community in 2017.
Mr Mudavadi said there was nothing wrong with the region having several candidates in the next poll.
So far, Mr Mudavadi and Ford-Kenya party leader Moses Wetang’ula have declared they will be in the race for the top seat.
Other politicians from the region who are likely to join the race are former Lugari MP Cyrus Jirongo and the former Speaker of the National Assembly Kenneth Marende.
Mr Mudavadi, who recently launched the Amani National Congress (ANC) party, also took issue with political critics claiming he has always been used as a “mole” in the past elections.
“I want to tell Luhyas to stop wasting time meeting in boardrooms to try and discuss how to pick a single candidate to contest the Presidency.
“There is nothing wrong if five candidates from the region join the race,” the former Deputy Prime Minister said in an interview with a local FM station on Friday.
SERIOUS CONTENDER
Mr Mudavadi said his opponents were trying to derail his campaigns by claiming he is a coward and that he would be offered a job by the Jubilee government.
“There can be nothing further from the truth. If they claim I’m someone’s project, whose project are those other candidates?” he argued.
The former Deputy Prime Minister accused Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya of deriding his presidential ambitions claiming he was not a serious contender.
Mr Oparanya had two weeks ago, dismissed Mr Mudavadi’s campaign saying he stood no chance. The governor, instead, asked the Luhyia community to rally behind Cord leader Raila Odinga in the next election.
Mr Mudavadi said a campaign by Lugari MP Ayub Savula targeting registration of six million voters from western was a step in the right direction.
He said communities from western region must be ready to register as voters and brace for 2017 elections.
This story first appeared on the Daily Nation