"Nusu Mkate" Government is a Pipe Dream, Wishful Thinking: Jubilee Leaders Tell Raila

Jubilee Party leaders have dismissed National Super Alliance (NASA) leader Raila Odinga's call for the formation of a six-month transitional government to allow the country hold a fresh presidential election.

Speaking during an interview with Reuters on Tuesday before he left for the United States, the former Prime Minister said the interim government, whose members he said should be drawn from both Jubilee and Nasa, will level the playing ground between him and President Uhuru and allow a new electoral commission to hold a free and fair election.

"We need an interim arrangement of governance involving representatives of both parties and six months will be required to carry out all these changes that we need in our country in order to have a proper, free and fair election.”

However, Jubilee leaders have dismissed Raila's demand, describing it as “a pipe dream that cannot be realised under the current Constitution”.

“All power is vested in the people and it is these people who made the decision to re-elect President Uhuru on October 26. They had made a similar decision on August 8 which the court nullified,” Majority leader in the National Assembly Aden Duale said.

He added: “The decision made on October 26 is final and we are not going to waste our time negotiating with anybody about nusu mkate government. They should forget that.”

Speaking at Parliament on Wednesday, another group of Jubilee leaders led by nominated MP David ole Sankok termed the calls by Nasa leader as “wishful thinking” and headed nowhere.

“Raila has now made clear his intentions. All along he has disputed election results under the pretext that the exercise was rigged. He has now opened his mind that he has been pushing for power sharing,” Sankok told the media at Parliament Buildings.

“Kenyans now want to move forward. They want the winner of the election sworn in for the government to start operating. We cannot be in politics for decades.”

Raila also proposed changes on the constitution to create a hybrid presidential-parliamentary system.“A pure presidential system enhances ethnicity because each community believes it is not safe unless their man is at the top,” he told Reuters.