The Party of National Unity (PNU) has become the latest partner to announce its intention to exit the Azimio coalition.
This follows the recent move by the ODM to submit four of its members for appointment to join President William Ruto’s cabinet.
Party leader Peter Munya disclosed that the party’s National Executive Council (NEC) will convene Thursday to decide about its stay in the coalition.
“We are meeting on Thursday to decide our relations with Azimio,” Munya said.
He said the Raila Odinga-led party cannot be in government and at the same time remain in the opposition hence the need to disassociate.
“They (ODM) have said they want to be in the government and for some of us who want to be in the opposition, we must bolt out so that we can continue fighting for the people of Kenya,” he said.
He argued that currently, there are many problems facing the people which have been brought about by the current administration.
“The way our constitution is structured is such that there has to be two sides, there are people in government and people supposed to be in the opposition, you cannot be in both places,” he said.
He also challenged Raila and other coalition partners to declare their stance if they are still in the opposition or have joined the government side.
“As PNU, we believe we can a play better role when we are in the opposition and we are telling our brothers who are with us in Azimio to also make that choice. If they decide to join the government let them join fully so that it is clear who is playing where…right now there is confusion,” he stated.
The move taken by Munya follows that of Narc Kenya which issued an exit notice last Thursday.
The decision was communicated in a letter addressed to the coalition secretary-general Junet Mohammed by Narc Kenya’s acting secretary general Asha Bashir.
“Kindly take note that our stay in Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition is not tenable due to the prevailing political developments,” she said.
“As NARC Kenya by way of this letter, we are giving notice to exit the Coalition as stipulated in the exit clause (s) in the Coalition Agreement. This notice is effective from the date of this letter,” she added.
Karua in a tweet on X said “Our stay in Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Alliance is no longer tenable”.
Her party’s intention to withdraw from Azimio comes as a surprise considering her assurance during a radio interview on Tuesday that her relationship with coalition boss Raila Odinga was solid.
“We talked not too long ago, and we’ll be able to talk again, the lines are open,” Karua said.
In rejecting to be part of the government of national unity, Karua instead called for the strengthening of the opposition to continue mounting pressure on the Kenya Kwanza government to fulfil its promises.
