Politicians from Western Kenya allied to Deputy President William Ruto have urged him to get a running mate from the region.
Speaking at Malinya stadium in Ikolomani Constituency, the leaders advised Ruto to pick Amani National Congress (ANC) leader Musalia Mudavadi or Ford Kenya’s Moses Wetangula.
The leaders had joined Ruto at a bull fighting competition organised by former Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale.
Area MP Bernard Shinali set the ball rolling: “We are happy that you came here today. Nobody should lie to you that Western is divided. The region will definitely back your 2022 presidential quest, however, we want you to have one of our leaders as a running mate. There are many: Mudavadi, Wetang’ula or even myself.”
Khalwale referred to Ruto as ‘an old friend’ saying he will work hard to ensure the DP gets full backing in western.
Khalwale said since 1997, leaders from the Luhya community have gotten their arithmetic wrong while in search for political power.“In 1997, we tried it out with the late Vice President Michael Kijana Wamalwa, but failed miserably.
That is until we joined forces with retired President Mwai Kibaki,” said Khalwale.In 2013, Khalwale said he worked tirelessly to sell Mudavadi across the country but achieved little.
Mudavadi has however ruled out any possibility of working with Ruto.
Mudavadi said that Ruto is a competitor since he has already taken a position in the succession race. “Let us not live in fantasy,” he said.
Speaking during an interview on KTN on Tuesday night, Mudavadi said that he was open for alliance with like-minded leaders from other parts of the country.
“When you’re forming coalitions or alliances you must reach out to people from different parts of the country and that is what I am doing,” he said.
He said that he met leaders from central Kenya to exchange ideas and discuss political developments including the constitutional amendments.