DP William Ruto returns to Vihiga

Deputy President William Ruto returns to Vihiga County on Wednesday as Jubilee Party continues to woo western Kenya, a perceived opposition base.

Former Vihiga MP Mr Yusuf Chanzu, who is coordinating the DP's activities in Vihiga, confirmed the visit and said the event will be held at his Matsigulu home located about two kilometers from Mbale town.

Mr Chanzu said Mr Ruto will address a delegation of political, religious, opinion leaders and Jubilee supporters as the President’s party seeks to get a chunk of the county’s 272,000 votes.

He said the Mr Ruto is expected to arrive at noon.

OPPOSITION

The visit comes after the National Super Alliance (Nasa) held its campaign in Vihiga on Saturday.

The DP’s tour could be seen as a counter to the opposition political events in western at the weekend.

The visit also comes four days after Mr Chanzu was received into Jubilee Party by President Uhuru Kenyatta and Mr Ruto during a political event held at Approved School in Kakamega County last Saturday.

The former Vihiga MP unsuccessfully contested the Vihiga governorship on Musalia Mudavadi’s Amani National Congress (ANC).

During the Saturday event attended by some 20,000 people from western Kenya, Mr Chanzu said the Head of State had reunited him with his bitter rival Moses Akaranga, the former Vihiga Governor.

VOTES

On Saturday, Nasa presidential candidate Raila Odinga and his co-principal in the alliance Mr Mudavadi dismissed defectors from the Luhya community and described them as self-seekers.

But Mr Chanzu said the opposition leaders have in the past worked with the government.

“Mudavadi invited President Kenyatta to his father’s (Moses Budamba Mudavadi) 25th memorial (in February 2014). Does that make him a self-seeker? I am in Jubilee and I know what I am doing. The

Deputy President is coming to seek votes and talk to people,” said Mr Chanzu.

The visit by Mr Ruto follows another one held on September 14 where the DP addressed a delegation of 6,500 preachers at the Pentecostal Assemblies of God (PAG) Church in Nyang’ori, Vihiga County before heading to another meeting at Mr Akaranga’s home to meet with elders drawn from across the county.