Nairobi — The search for Raila Odinga’s running mate enters its second day Tuesday with five candidates scheduled to face the seven-member panel of eminent persons tasked to find a suitable candidate for the post.
In the Tuesday’s session, all eyes will be on Wiper Party Leader Kalonzo Musyoka who is expected to present himself before the Noah Wekesa – led panel.
According to the panel’s schedule, Musyoka is expected to appear before it at 9.00AM.
Musyoka has in the past been insistent that he will not subject himself to the process noting that it would amount to humiliation.
“I want to tell all Kenyans that I will not attend the said process. I find the entire thing demeaning to my person and will therefore distance myself from it,” he said in a previous interview.
A defiant Musyoka maintained that he has the experience and the wits to deputize Odinga in the August polls and that anything short of that would be detrimental to the former Prime Minister’s chances to ascend to the elusive presidency.
The former Vice President was Odinga’s running mate in 2013 under the CORD Coalition and in 2017 under the National Super Alliance (NASA).
Leaders allied to Musyoka have also made it clear that he is too “overqualified” to face the panel.
Other candidates set to be interviewed Tuesday include: Narc Leader Charity Ngilu, Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya, former Gatanga MP Peter Kenneth and former Kenyan Ambassador to Australia Stephen Tarus.
KANU Party Leader Gideon Moi who had been shortlisted to be Odinga’s running mate on Monday withdraw his candidature and backed Musyoka’s bid.
“Our national Chairman Gideon Moi was shortlisted to appear before the panel. We have received instructions that he will not be appearing before this panel because he had written a letter where they had endorsed Kalonzo Musyoka,” the party’s Secretary for Political Affairs Fredrick Okang’o Okang’o told journalists at the Serena Hotel in Nairobi the venue for the interviews.
The panel on Monday interviewed Muranga Woman Representative Sabina Chege who was fronted by Jubilee Party, Narc Kenya Leader Martha Karua, Governors Wycliffe Oparanya and Ali Hassan Joho whose names were proposed by Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party.
The panel is expected to submit the name of the suitable candidate to Odinga who will then unveil the candidate at a later date.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) set the deadline for the submission of presidential aspirants’ names together with those of their running mates to May 16, 2022.