The battle for 2.2 million Western Kenya votes
The battle for the 2.2 million-vote rich Western is on, with at least four presidential candidates lined up, in a region under the shadow of ODM leader Raila Odinga and which has seen increased interest by Deputy President William Ruto.
Amani National Congress (ANC) leader Musalia Mudavadi, his Ford-Kenya counterpart Moses Wetang’ula, ODM deputy party leader and Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya, and former Trade Minister Mukhisa Kituyi have all set eyes on State House next year, with alignments and re-alignments in the region.
While he has not expressed interest in the presidency, Devolution Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa, currently in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s camp, is a likely kingmaker.
While Mr Mudavadi and Mr Wetang’ula are working together under the One Kenya Alliance with Wiper’s Kalonzo Musyoka and Gideon Moi of Kanu, Mr Oparanya has stuck with Mr Odinga, saying he was willing to take the baton in case the 76-year-old decides to hang his boots.
Drifted away
On the side-lines, Dr Kituyi, who had been seen as earlier leaning towards Mr Odinga and the pro-Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) team, has since drifted away, with his latest message hinting at his intention to run a solo campaign.
In an unlikely chide at the pro-BBI team, Dr Kituyi described their coming together — under the leadership of President Kenyatta — as an attempt to put new wine in old wines skin.
"Political friends who once worked together seeking the country's leadership in Nasa coalition have the right to look for each other and try to work together again for the betterment of our country but I don't think the fate of our politics will be propelled by coming together of such friends who once disagreed politically,” Dr Kituyi said on Saturday at Mbakalo village in Tongaren, Bungoma North during the burial of Mzee Cheningi Lubao.
Mr Kenyatta-led meeting at State House, Mombasa last week, Dr Kituyi said, had no agenda in addressing the myriad challenges that the ordinary person is going through but was more of addressing political interests of few power-hungry leaders.
The comments by Dr Kituyi, who last week released a recorded campaign message, ups the stakes in the battle for Western, which has a considerable following for Mr Odinga, and which Dr Ruto seems to have focused on with frequent visits and defections to his camp.
Kituyi candidature
The comments also come just over a month after Dr Kituyi disclosed that he and Mr Odinga have never talked about supporting each other as the country heads to the 2022 General Election, and that he is focusing on selling his presidential quest.
“I have not come to any moment that I consider that I want to support Raila, I am building a momentum for Kituyi candidature… I am running for president and looking for persons of shared direction to see how to unlock our steps,” Dr Kituyi on KTN News in June.
Western has more than two million votes spread across its four counties, with Kakamega having the largest share at 743,736, Bungoma 559,850, Busia 351,048 and Vihiga 272,409. Trans Nzoia, located in the Rift Valley but with a high Luhya population, has 339,622 votes.
"Our region has always been outside the government. For us to be in government in 2022 we should embrace our neighbours and work with them," Mr Oparanya, who is also ODM’s deputy party leader, said early this month.
Western is particularly important battleground for Dr Ruto, Mr Odinga and Mr Mudavadi based on the 2017 elections results.
Jubilee MPs
In 2017 polls, Jubilee snatched 12 MP seats from a region widely controlled by Mr Odinga, with Mr Mudavadi and Mr Wetang’ula fully behind him.
While President Kenyatta had garnered a paltry 66,000 votes from the four Western counties in 2013, in 2017, this figure went up eightfold, raking in an impressive 242,000 votes.
This, Ruto allies say, is proof that constant focus on the region might bring in even more votes to the DP camp in 2022.
In an area that did not have any Jubilee MP in the 2013-2017 Parliament, Jubilee managed to win four of the 12 MP seats in Kakamega—Ikolomani, Malava, Navakholo and Mumias East — with Dr Ruto having since won over Dr Boni Khalwale, the former Kakamega senator.
Kakamega is run by Governor Oparanya, a second-term governor who deputises Mr Odinga in the Orange Party, and who has since shown closeness to the centre of power, including being invited to the Mombasa State House talks, even though he is not a party leader like the rest.
Promoting UDA
Now, Dr Ruto’s lieutenants in the region, led by Mumias East MP Benjamin Washiali, are focused on promoting the United Democratic Alliance (UDA)-backed bottom-up economic model and are currently drafting an economic plan for the region for the DP’s manifesto in his 2022 race.
Mr Washiali said the plan will focus on revival of Mumias Sugar, Pan Paper, revitalise railway transport system within, set up an international airport and revive cash crop farming.
“We had a meeting at DP’s place in late May and we agreed to split ourselves into county committees so that we can have county positions, hence the global map of addressing issues affecting the Western region,” said Mr Washiali, a key DP’s ally in the region.
“We do not want to go into this election without an agenda. Even in his manifesto, he must include them.”
Former Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa, a key ally of Ruto from Western, says while the region has not shown full support for the DP yet, Western was still in the race for Dr Ruto’s running mate post.
“If as Western manage to give him 60 percent of our votes, we will go for a big position-deputy president,” Mr Echesa said.
Reciprocate
Earlier in the year, DP Ruto had castigated the Luhya Nation for taking advantage of his generosity and failing to reciprocate when it comes to voting.
“You are misusing me. When it comes to development- church building, roads, school buses, you look for Ruto but on the voting day, you decide to change and go for those people who love riddles,” said Dr Ruto then.
In Mr Mudavadi’s camp, his allies like Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala, say it was his time to lead.
“Musalia for several years, he has been supporting others because he is not egocentric. He is a team player. In 2002, he backed Uhuru, 2007 and 2017, he threw his support behind Raila and now we are saying that we are done supporting others and we are focusing on ensuring that he becomes fifth President,” said Senator Malala.
Mr Wetang’ula, on the other hand, is facing a separate battle for his Ford Kenya party, with Kanduyi MP Wafula Wamunyinyi and his Tongaren counterpart Eseli Simiyu, backed by Bungoma governor Wycliffe Wangamati, laying claim to the Simba party. BY DAILY NATION
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