New cracks have emerged in the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition after four of its affiliate parties filed a petition at the Registrar of Political Parties requesting that the coalition’s agreement documents be rejected.
In the petition, the four parties; KANU, Wiper, United Democratic Party (UDP) and The Movement for Democracy and Growth (MDG) accuse the coalition of amending the original document without consulting them.
"It is apparent that the Agreement lodged on the 1st April 2022 was withdrawn and certain clauses amended or altered without the consent of all the parties and signatories," a letter authored by the four parties and addressed to Registrar of Political parties Ann Nderitu read in part.
Additionally, the four parties raised three issues they want addressed before the coalition is formally registered.
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File image of OKA Principals; Kalonzo Musyoka and Senator Gideon Moi. |Photo| Courtesy|[/caption]
The four argue that it was agreed the coalition will have three caucuses, but now allege that documents filed at the registrar provide for four caucuses without their approval.
Secondly, the group wants whoever shall be named as the running mate of ODM leader Raila Odinga to automatically be the Deputy Party leader of the coalition party.
Lastly, they want members of the coalition Council under the Coalition Political Party be increased to 11 from the initial 7.
The group has requested the registrar not to formally register the coalition until the above issues are fully resolved.
The new twists comes a few days after 8 parties affiliated to the coalition also accused Azimio’s leadership of making critical decisions without consulting them.
The group threatened to explore other options prompting Odinga to meet them and intervene.
Meanwhile, Odinga recently appointed former Jubilee Party Secretary General Raphael Tuju the Executive Director of the coalition. Tuju is expected to among others streamline the relationship between the over 20 parties in the coalition.