Wiper Leader Kalonzo Musyoka has stated that they will not rebrand the Azimio alliance, but will instead form a new political entity.
The Wiper leader, who is a part of Azimio, stated that the alliance has grown dysfunctional as people withdraw. Kalonzo announced that he will not run in the 2027 general elections, while Azimio stated that he is reorganizing his party.
“Azimio is dysfunctional. We are consulting, but clearly, we can’t go into the next election as Azimio. We are actively consulting and reorganising,” Kalonzo said on Monday during an interview with the Social Newsroom.
“Either we come up with a new coalition, which is what we are trying to do, or perhaps with the concurrence of people saying, let us rebrand Azimio. I don’t think Azimio is rebrand able. We have to come up with a new coalition.”
However, Kalonzo stated that they have not yet taken any decisions because the Wiper Party is consultative.
Azimio positioned itself as a political coalition made up of the Orange Democratic Movement, the Jubilee Party, the Wiper Party, KANU, and other parties for the 2022 general election.
In the 2022 Kenyan election, the alliance fielded Raila Odinga as its presidential candidate and Martha Karua, leader of the Narc Kenya Party, as its deputy presidential candidate.
In July 2024, the Narc Kenya party announced its exit from the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya alliance.
Asha Bashir, the acting secretary general of Narc Kenya, informed the decision in a letter to coalition secretary-general Junet Mohammed.
“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 tweeted, “Our stay in Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Alliance is no longer tenable.”
The Democratic Action Party (DAP-K) is the latest party to announce its intention to leave the Azimio alliance.
Party head Eugene Wamalwa claimed they’ve started the process of leaving the coalition, noting that their stay in the opposition coalition was no longer tenable.
“We cannot stay, and we no longer find it tenable being in a relationship with people who are no longer like-minded with us,” he said.
