The just concluded Ugenya and Embakasi South by-elections once again proved to be a battle ground between Opposition Chief Raila Odinga and Deputy President William Ruto of the ruling Jubilee Party.
Despite William Ruto’s Party not fielding a candidate in the two constituencies, the DP’s name was always used as a campaign tool by the ODM brigade with many political pundits arguing that this might have contributed to the Opposition Party’s bitter loss even in Raila’s own home backyard of Ugenya Constituency.
ODM Leaders led by Senator James Orengo centered their campaigns around William Ruto and did not give candidates time to sell their manifestos to the people.
This inturn contributed to the rise of Ruto’s Political status while ODM was left to hide it’s head shame after a bitter loss.
In Embakasi South, Wiper’s Julius Mawathe trounced ODM’s Sumra after he was declared winner of the by-election with 21,628 votes.
Sumra emerged a distant second with 7,988 votes.
In Ugenya Constituency, Ochieng’s 18,730 votes pushed him to the top.
He vied on a Movement for Democracy and Growth (MDG) ticket.
After the official results were announced, William Ruto’s supporters took to social media to celebrate the two wins while thanking the Deputy President for helping the respective winners bag the win.
It is still not clear how Ruto helped both Ochieng of Ugenya and Mawathe of Embakasi but one thing that is clear is the fact that Ruto had some hand in the campaign strategy of the two leaders.
Below is How a number of Kenyans thanked Ruto after the two Vital Wins.