Key coalition partners in the united opposition have skipped a series of rallies by the outfit in Ukambani and Coast regions for the second consecutive day.
Jubilee Party flagbearer Fred Matiang’i, Martha Karua (PLP leader) , and Peter Munya of PNU were conspicuously absent from the rallies held in Kutui and Mombasa counties.
The tours, announced earlier in the week by Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka, were intended to showcase a united front under the Komboa Kenya banner.
The joint campaign blitz to show unity was scheduled to begin on Wednesday in Ukambani and the Coast, with all opposition parties expected to participate.
However, sources within the coalition revealed that Matiang’i, who had initially confirmed his attendance, pulled out at the last minute to attend parallel political engagements in Nakuru County, where he presided over the opening of Jubilee Party offices.
His absence, alongside that of Karua who announced her PLP party will be moving independently across the country and Munya, has fueled speculation of growing mistrust within the alliance.
While Kalonzo Musyoka and Deputy Opposition Leader Rigathi Gachagua of the Democratic Change Party (DCP) are said to maintain a cordial working relationship, there is mounting tension been mounting between Gachagua’s DCP and other coalition partners, particularly Jubilee and PLP.
The friction reportedly centers on Rigathi Gachagua’s style of politics plus the control of the vote rich Mt. Kenya region, where both Jubilee and PLP have resisted DCP’s attempts to assert dominance.
Jubilee and PLP have rejected DCP’s calls to withdraw their candidates from the upcoming Olkalou by-election, a move that has exposed the fragile unity within the united opposition.
