Nairobi Governor has been suspected to secretly support the opposition Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition in thei anti-government demonstrations as he continues to blow hot and cold.
Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition yesterday announced that the anti-government demonstrations will resume next week, for one day, on Wednesday after Kenya experienced three days of economically painful protests last week.
Governor Sakaja was trusted by the Kenya Kwanza government with the coordination of security in Nairobi, however, the ranks within Kenya Kwanza have began to believe that Sakaja is a sell out who has been a fence sitter in the maandamano calls. His close contact with outspoken Azimio la Umoja and ODM elected leaders in Nairobi has been seen as a way for Sakaja to give out Kenya Kwanza secrets to the Azimio side which could have occasioned the back tracking of Azimio protesters in Nairobi during the three days of protests last week.
The ruling Kenya Kwanza government last week dealt with the protesters firmly in various parts of the country; however, unlike in other days of the opposition protests, Nairobi experienced lesser activity. The protests in Nairobi went lukewarm leaving the police to easily control the perceived Azimio zones.
Sakaja has been blowing hot and cold over the demonstrations, just last Sunday, Sakaja trooped to the AIPCA Church in Bahati, Makadara constintuency in Nairobi. Sakaja was accompanied by over 50 MCAs drawn from both Azimio and Kenya Kwanza.
The nearly 20 Azimio MCA’s in Sakaja’s entourage are the same Azimio leaders who, it is believed that Sakaja confides in giving out Kenya Kwanza plan game to them, and effectively, making them known to the Azimio top brass and supporters at the bottom.
Sakaja used the church service to speak against the demonstrations, carefully choosing his words while calling for dialogue for the sake of the economy. Sakaja assured the Nairobi residents that “there would be no Azimio demonstrations in Nairobi”. The governor, being in custody of Kenya Kwanza security details to counter the demonstrators has been said to be a water melon in the anti government demonstrations and could be giving crucial information to Azimio.
During the church service, powerful Azimio la Umoja majority leadership led by Makongeni MCA Majority leader Peter Imwatok and Mabatini MCA Wilfred Odalo the assembly budget and appropriations committee chairman were in attendance and appeared to support the castigation of the demonstrations.
The two leaders have in the past been instrumental in mobilising the ODM followere in Nairobi but this time round, perharps due to intelligence given to them by Sakaja, they chose to play it cool. Imwatok was no where to be seen during the protests. Again, just three days after attending the service alongsidethe governor, Odalo and his counterpart Ngei MCA Redson Onyango were arrested in suspicion of being involved with the protests in Mathare. They were arraigned in court and accused of participating in meetings to plan and organise for unauthorized demonstrations.
The court documents indicate that they were being investigated on charges of “conspiracy to commit an offence and preparation to commit an offence to with unlawful demonstrations and riots contrary to section 78 as read with section 79 of the Penal Code.
How would Odalo get arrested for planning the demonstrations, yet he was part of the group supporting Sakaja in condemning the same demonstrations? It only points out that Sakaja knew the plans of Azimio and offered them the best plan to avoid coming into contact with security apparatus, which Sakaja is tasked with controlling within the city.
Playing hot and cold has been Sakaja’s game plan as he works with Azimio leaning leaders in Nairobi, often keeping off from joining the Kenya Kwanza leaders in criticizing Azimio la Umoja leaders.
A section of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) affiliated members of the Nairobi County Assembly earlier this year accused Sakaja of facilitating Raila Odinga’s Kamukunji rallies.
The MCAs charged the governor with facilitating the meetings by providing the location and resources noting that the Governor’s silence over the Kamukunji rally that was held in his county is dubious.
The minority Kenya Kwanza MCAs in the Assembly have been at odds with Governor Sakaja and have subsequently assumed the opposition position after accusing him of ignoring them.
After he selected supporters of Azimio la Umoja to important county offices, there was a divide with Sakaja.
The Azimio coalition said that they will continue to pressure the government to lower the cost of living in their protests as well as agitate against the arrests and shooting of protesters by police that have been witnessed in previous maandamano.
