Why we did not attend Saba Saba rally, Kidero

Several key Cord politicians who skipped the Saba Saba rally on Monday at Uhuru Park have said their absence was due to unavoidable engagements.

Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero said he sent his deputy, Mr Jonathan Mweke, to represent him at the meeting because he had another meeting to attend to.

Kidero also added that the issues raised on Saba Saba day were common issues that had been voiced in previous rallies.

“I could not attend because I had a meeting with top International Monetary Fund (IMF) officials,” Dr Kidero said.

The governor, however, was at Saturday’s interdenominational meeting at the same venue.

Budalang’i MP Ababu Namwamba — one of the secretaries in ODM’s joint caretaker committee — has in the recent past skipped major Cord rallies including Monday’s.

“Any time I have not been seen in Cord rallies those keen must have realised that I was engaged elsewhere,” he said.

During the Saba Saba rally on Monday, he said he was in Kakamega dealing with matters related to corruption as the chairman of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir however, said he skipped the meeting because he felt Cord was wrong.

“The issues they raised can be dealt with amicably in Parliament,” he said.

He added that Mvita was cosmopolitan and that his presence at the rally would jeopardise harmony in the constituency.

Others who were conspicuously absent at the Saba Saba rally included Governors Ali Hassan Joho (Mombasa) and Josephat Nanok (Turkana), Kitui Senator David Musila and MPs Aden Keynan (Eldas) and Gideon Mung’aro (Malindi), the Opposition Chief whip in the National Assembly.