Former Machakos Senator Johnstone Muthama has opened up on his fallout with ODM Leader Raila Odinga, noting that he has no personal differences with the former Premier.
Speaking during an interview on Wednesday night, Muthama noted that his relationship with Odinga was smooth until he decided to meet and engage President Uhuru Kenyatta on talks leading to the handshake, without consulting his National Super Alliance (NASA) coalition partners.
According to Muthama, he was annoyed and felt betrayed since he and other leaders had put in a lot of work in NASA, but Raila failed to inform them of his plans, creating an impression that they were not important.
“There is no personal difference between me and Raila Odinga…But there is one thing that happened and I felt betrayed...All over sudden without Raila informing his soldiers including his deputies and other top leaders of the NASA fraternity, he went to shake hands with President Uhuru Kenyatta.
“The problem was not the handshake, the problem was that with all the work we had done up to that point, he ever involved us that he was going there, he never involved anybody in the NASA leadership, and with that not only Muthama, but all of us felt betrayed, and we said is this the right person we are backing? Questions came up,” Muthama said.
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File image of former Machakos Senator Johnstone Muthama. [Photo: Courtesy]
On why he dropped out of Wiper Party led by Kalonzo Musyoka, Muthama noted that he had differences with the latter on the conduct of nominations and issuance of nomination certificates.
“I fell out with Kalonzo Musyoka because there were injustices in Wiper Party nominations and appointments,” he said.
As to whether he’ll be seeking an elective post in 2022, Muthama noted that he currently listening to Machakos people and may go the gubernatorial seat, if they ask him to.
“I want Machakos people if they have decided, I will listen to their wishes and I can tell you confidently, my thinking and my belief is to be the governor of Machakos, with the wishes of Machakos people,” he said.
