Andrew Ole Sunkuli, the Wiper Party presidential running mate, has defended his party’s flagbearer Kalonzo Musyoka against those who have called him a watermelon over his alleged political indecisiveness.
Sunkuli, speaking on Citizen TV’s NewsNight show on Tuesday, said the tag was unfair, saying the fruit is too wonderful to have a bad meaning.
“I think the term watermelon is so unfair, not so much for Kalonzo but for the fruit. Speaking of the watermelon, it is a very good fruit. I do not know at what point it became a parable of the bad,” he told Waihiga Mwaura.
“I eat watermelon and Kalonzo is not what I eat.”
Read: Wiper Officials Ask Kalonzo To Consider Returning to Azimio
As a result, Sunkuli declared that he will support Wiper’s choice to rejoin the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya coalition party, if that decision is made.
“If he (Kalonzo) decides to choose the country and work with Odinga, I will do the same to support his decision but that is not where we are at the moment. Right now we are in the race,” he said.
“I trust Kalonzo. He speaks from his heart, he means well for the country, and he meant it when he said he was in the race to the State House.”
Kalonzo, who has been in the UK for a week, has previously attributed the ‘watermelon’ nickname to Azimio leader Raila Odinga and has remarked that he is not upset by it because it is a good fruit.
Read Also: Kalonzo Submits Voter Signatures to IEBC For Presidential Bid
“It was Raila who gave me the watermelon tag but there is no problem,” he said in previous interview. “He is my brother and it’s a beautiful fruit by the way.”
While criticizing the label as unjust, he argued that his detractors only bring up his ‘indecisiveness’ when he takes controversial political decisions.
Wiper leaders are pressuring Kalonzo to rejoin the Azimio alliance, which he left after losing the running mate slot to NARC Kenya leader Martha Karua.
On Monday, party officials said that they have decided to cooperate with the Odinga-led coalition through “structured dialogue”.
Read Also: Kalonzo Fully In Azimio, Murathe Says As Wiper Boss Meets Party Officials
They reaffirmed, however, that if the coalition party’s offer proves to be inadequate, they are willing to support Kalonzo to become Kenya’s fifth president.
At the same time, President Uhuru Kenyatta and KANU Chairman Gideon Moi are reportedly attempting to entice him back to the Azimio camp.
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