Wiper Party Leader Kalonzo Musyoka has shed light into the events that transpired in a meeting with President William Ruto and former President Uhuru Kenyatta at his home in the run up to the 2013 elections.
Speaking in an interview with Spice FM, Kalonzo addressed reports about the meeting that has often been a point of discussion in Kenya’s political space.
According to him, Ruto, who was by then Eldoret North Member of Parliament and Uhuru (then Kenya’s Deputy Prime Minister) had requested to meet him at around Seven O’clock.
Ruto and Uhuru had one thing in common, a case at the International Criminal Court (ICC) which had threatened to cut short their political ambitions.
“I was waiting for them from 7 O’clock. I think they must have passed through some street corner and discussed a strategy on how to deal with me,” Kalonzo narrated.
At the time, Kalonzo was Kenya’s Vice President and an aspirant in the 2013 presidential election which formed part of the meeting’s subject.
The meeting, Kalonzo said, was organized by businessman Jimi Wanjigi who has in the past professed having been part of the team that crafted Uhuru’s strategy that saw him clinch the Presidency in 2013.
According to Kalonzo, both Uhuru and Ruto arrived at his home later than expected on the night the meeting took place.
Contrary to a revelation by Defence Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale in his book titled “For The Record”, Kalonzo refuted claims that he declined an offer by Ruto and Uhuru to have him as the Presidential candidate of a proposed alliance.
Kalonzo to sue Duale
According to Duale’s revelations about the meeting, Kalonzo turned down the offer, referring to the ongoing ICC case and reportedly predicted that Uhuru and Ruto would be jailed for ten years.
But Kalonzo dismissed the claims by Duale, stating that it would be ridiculous for a Vice President to make such remarks about two people who were in a dire situation.
“I have heard stories saying that I said that when the two are taken to the Hague and go to jail I would take over.”
Further in his interview, the Wiper Party Leader divulged plans to sue Duale for what he called defamation.
He instead urged Kenyans to read his book titled “Against All Odds” for clarity on the intrigues surrounding the 2013 succession race.
“That is why I am suing Duale because he wrote things he does not know about,” he said.
Kibaki succession politics
Kalonzo and the team comprising Uhuru and Ruto were at the center of the Kenya’s third President Mwai Kibaki’s succession intrigues.
The race took different turns, with the team that later came to be known as “Uhuruto” overcoming a spirited competition from other prominent candidates including then Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi.
Different stories about political intrigues in the succession race have been shared, including one about a last-minute change of mind by Uhuru after initially striking a deal with Mudavadi.
Duale in May 2023 expounded on some of the key events in the period preceding the 2013 elections and his other key involvements in Kenya’s politics.
