Nairobi
Former Kenyan Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka said he’s considering running for president next year as he called for a united opposition to contest the vote.
The opposition Coalition for Reforms and Democracy is discussing which of its three principal leaders should be the flag-bearer in the vote, Musyoka said in an interview published in the Nairobi-based Standard newspaper on Monday. CORD groups Musyoka’s Wiper Democratic Movement, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement and Moses Wetang’ula’s Forum for the Restoration of Democracy in Kenya.
“I hope they can support my candidature this time round,” Musyoka said in an interview published in the Nairobi-based Standard newspaper on Monday. “This is the time for this country to try a strong Kalonzo candidature.”
East Africa’s biggest economy holds elections on August 8 in which President Uhuru Kenyatta will seek a second term in office. Musyoka was Odinga’s running mate in the last vote in 2013, when they garnered 43.3 percent of the ballots cast, compared with 50.1 percent for Kenyatta.
Musyoka said CORD lost “a lot” of seats in the last election because it fielded opposing candidates from the coalition’s constituent parties.
“We should have joint nominations,” Musyoka said. “I am still of the view that we should register CORD” as a party to compete in the vote, he said.
Musyoka attended an opposition rally in the southwestern town of Bomet on Sunday where leaders including former Vice President Musalia Mudavadi, Senator Gideon Moi, the son of ex-President Daniel Arap Moi, and Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto backed calls for a so-called super alliance of opposition parties.
