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Kalonzo’s son brews political storm over Eala nomination

May 12th, 2017 3 min read

The nomination of Kennedy Musyoka, son of Nasa presidential running mate Kalonzo Musyoka, to the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) has elicited mixed reactions in the political arena.

Leader of Majority in the National Assembly Aden Duale said on Thursday that MPs will not allow any form of political dynasty in the EALA nominations.

“The era of political dynasties is long gone and we as voters will not allow it back in this country,” Mr Duale said.

Minority whip in the National Assembly Thomas Mwadeghu on Thursday submitted the names of Kennedy Musyoka, Judith Pareno, Ronald Ng’eny and Abubakar Zein as Cord’s nominees for EALA.

However, Wiper Leader Kalonzo Musyoka has shrugged off the raging controversy.

SHARP DEBATE

Besides, his son’s name on the list, that of a former aide to Raila Odinga, Silas Jakakimba, has elicited sharp debate.

The opposition’s list, however, does not have names of representatives from either the Amani National Congress (ANC) or Chama Cha Mashinani (CCM), the two parties that teamed up with Cord to form the National Super Alliance (Nasa).

Whereas ODM’s strength in Parliament gives it three slots in Eala, Wiper has only one while Moses Wetang’ula’s Ford Kenya has none.

But it is the choice of the young Musyoka that is likely to deepen the raging political storm in the Wiper Party, just days after Machakos Senator Johnson Muthama withdrew from the senatorial race citing Mr Musyoka as the reason for his decision.

On Monday, Mr Muthama threw a surprise when he announced he would not defend his seat even after he had been cleared by the party and accused Mr Musyoka of dictatorship and betrayal. The party has since replaced the senator with another candidate.

But deputy minority leader Jakoyo Midiwo said they will not allow “few people to sit in a hotel and come up with only four names instead of the required twelve.”

INTEGRITY TEST

In a thin veiled attack at Ms Judy Pareno who is also the chairperson of the ODM National Elections Board, Mr Midiwo said some of the four nominees presented by Opposition cannot pass the integrity test as enshrined in chapter six of the Constitution.

“Mr speaker if you allow somebody somewhere sitting in a hotel and then bring names here for the National Assembly to rubberstamp, then you are killing democracy, we do not choose, we elect,” he added.

Marakwet East MP Kangongo Bowen said the Opposition should at least give the House options to choose who will serve in the regional parliament.

“Let them give us options to choose from as long as they are qualified to be Members of Parliament because they are going to make laws and not to represent their families,” Mr Bowen said.

“Let us look at the qualification because we need to choose people who are qualified no matter who are they are,” Mr Bowen said in relation to the nomination of Mr Musyoka’s son.

POLITICAL HATRED

Kiminini MP Chris Wamalwa urged MPs not to sow seeds of political hatred following the nomination of Mr Musyoka’s son saying candidates should be looked at objectively.

“We must look at all candidates objectively then we decide through election. I do not see anything wrong with Kalonzo’s son. The current President Uhuru Kenyatta is a son of a former first president but Kenyans elected him anyway,” Dr Wamalwa said.

Speaker Justin Muturi said he is yet to formally receive the list of the Opposition nominees but urged it to abide by the nomination rules.

Mr Muturi said there is no harm in nominating anybody as it is MPs who will decide which people to represent the country at EALA.

“Please comply with the rules as was crafted by the joint committee. You can’t make rules and just because of some recent political re-inclination you want to forget the same rules you crafted,” Mr Muturi said.