I’m seeking Raila support, for seat: Ruto

Eldoret North MP William Ruto on Thursday said he was looking for his ally-turned-foe Prime Minister Raila Odinga to ask for his support in the presidential race. Read (Why Raila, Uhuru and Ruto are keen on new alliances)

Mr Ruto denied rumours that the two had met in secret, dismissing them as “propaganda” but he did say that he would talking to friends, supporters and rivals to build enough momentum to win the State House race.

“There are reports running around that I have met the PM in secret. I have not met him, but I am looking for him. I want him to support me,” Mr Ruto said when he received defectors at his campaign headquarters on Ngong’ Road.

Among those who defected were Kisumu County senatorial aspirant George Weda; Narok East and South parliamentary aspirants Dr Richard Saning’o and Mr Korei Lemein respectively; and Mr Boaz Lijoodi, who is seeking to be Ikolomani MP.

The Orange Democratic Movement is reportedly keen to win over the Rift Valley vote, a substantial part of which Mr Ruto is thought to control. A strategic decision appears to have been made for a charm offensive on Mr Ruto.

“We have decided to go slow on projecting Ruto as an enemy. You will see us treating him with kids’ gloves even as we charm his supporters,” a highly-placed source in ODM told the Daily Nation.

Mr Odinga is said to have sent word to Mr Ruto that he would like to reconcile and chart a common political course.

On Tuesday, Mr Ruto told the Kalenjin vernacular radio station Chamgei FM that if Mr Odinga wanted to work with him, then he should surrender 60 per cent of the positions in government to the United Republican Party, which Mr Ruto leads.

Other reports said Mr Odinga met Dujis MP Aden Duale, a close confidant of Mr Ruto, in a bid to establish relations between the two parties.

The meeting is said to have taken place on Tuesday night in the private office of a Nairobi businessman close to both the PM and Mr Ruto.

Contacted, Mr Duale, who is the URP spokesman, could neither deny nor confirm the meeting: “I have no comment at this time. Absolutely no comment.”

Mr Ruto also dismissed as pure propaganda reports of the meeting with the PM, insisting he was in the presidential race to the end.

A meeting of the party’s MPs and top officials in Naivasha last weekend mandated Mr Odinga to hold talks with leaders of other parties to form alliances capable of winning the next elections.

The PM has been trying hard to restore support in Rift Valley after Mr Ruto walked away with majority of MPs from the region.

Mr Odinga has on his side Cabinet ministers Henry Kosgey, Sally Kosgey, Musa Sirma, Margaret Kamar and assistant ministers Magerer Lang’at and Beatrice Kones.

The PM and Mr Ruto were part of the ODM team during the 2007 election campaigns but parted later and Mr Odinga sacked Mr Ruto as Higher Education minister. Previously he was in Agriculture, a coveted docket.

Mr Odinga, at a party for Mr Kosgey, recently announced that he was ready to work with Mr Ruto.

Mr Ruto is reported to have consistently rebuffed entreaties — including three meetings reportedly held in various locations in Nairobi between the PM’s allies and the MP – for him to rejoin his erstwhile ally.

Mr Ruto is particularly emboldened by the numbers in the Rift Valley, which, with the approval of new boundaries, will after the next election have 75 elected MPs from the current 49.

Sources familiar with the thinking in the Raila campaign were yesterday categorical that the PM is still keen to win back the populous Kalenjin vote, particularly in the case of a run-off poll.

A think-tank tasked with the head-hunting a running mate for the Orange ticket had reportedly settled on Agriculture minister Sally Kosgei owing to her international profile and her gender, but the choice is said to have been discarded.

Mr Kosgey seems to have prevailed.