'They are traitors!' Raila calls for resignation of Azimio MPs who visited State House

Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Alliance party leader Raila Odinga has called for the resignation of nine MPs affiliated with the coalition who met President William Ruto at State House, Nairobi on Tuesday.

The nine are Kisumu Senator Tom Ojienda, MPs Felix Odiwuor (Langata), Mark Nyamita (Uriri), Caroli Omondi (Suba South), Gideon Ochanda (Bondo), Elisha Odhiambo (Gem), Paul Abuor (Rongo) and Walter Owino (Awendo).

While labeling the leaders as traitors, Odinga in a statement on Thursday, stated that the lawmakers lied when they stated that they only attended the meeting to follow up on developmental pledges President Ruto vowed to bring to their constituencies when he toured the Nyanza region in January.

According to Odinga, only Parliament can approve the budgets of such projects hence lawmakers don't need to seek an audience with the Head-of-State whenever they want to be allotted monies for the same.

"These members who have defected from Azimio coalition need to resign from their positions. There is a new dangerous phenomenon developing that MPs are approaching the Executive for supposed development in their constituencies and our current constitutional dispensation says that resources should be allocated by Parliament," said Odinga, who earlier vowed not to recognize Ruto's presidency.

"So the days where MPs go and see mtukufu rais is gone. If you want to go and see the president as a person of power and status, go but if you want to go and talk about issues that affect the party then you must be given permission by the party beforehand. These people must be seen for what they are, traitors in the course of a revolution."  

The Azimio party leader proceeded to take a walk down memory lane noting that he once cut ties with a political party that sponsored his parliamentary bid during a past election since he wasn't seeing eye to eye with the outfit's leadership, hence urged the so-called defectors to do the same.

"I myself resigned from the party that had sponsored me in the elections, Ford Kenya. When we disagreed with the leadership, I resigned and went and sought a fresh mandate with the people of Lang'ata and I was re-elected," he said.

Despite his hard-line stance, Odinga noted that in normal circumstances a leader elected into office as part of a political coalition should not leave the outfit at any rate in the first place. 

"A member of a party which is a member of a coalition should not leave the coalition. As you go in you are going with the mandate and manifesto of the coalition. You are being elected on the basis of the manifesto of that party. It is unprincipled to say after the elections that you are now resigning and now going to join another coalition which you actually ran against," he said.

"That is political prostitution and this is something that must stand condemned by all civilised Kenyans."