Scramble for votes in western hots up

Amani National Congress party leader Musalia Mudavadi (centre) with Vihiga Woman Representative Beatrice Adagala (left) and other party leaders during a press conference in Kisumu on May 11, 2018.PHOTO | ONDARI OGEGA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Mr Mudavadi on Friday said the ongoing dialogue with Ford-Kenya was going on well, and will soon lead to a new party.

  • The two leaders have argued they want to unite the western part of Kenya, majority of whom are from their ethnic Luhyia community, before forging ahead as a united front.
  • Deputy President William Ruto and opposition leader Raila Odinga too want a slice of the region.

Scramble for Western region votes has gone a notch higher after Musalia Mudavadi’s Amani National Congress and Moses Wetang’ula-led Ford-Kenya yesterday reiterated their bid to merge in an effort to consolidate the vote-rich region.  Deputy President William Ruto and opposition leader Raila Odinga too want a slice of the region.

Mr Mudavadi yesterday said the ongoing dialogue with Ford Kenya was going on well, and will soon lead to a new party, different from the agreement in the National Super Alliance (Nasa).

“We are satisfied that emerging political realities dictate that we seek to strengthen the emerging partnership ANC and Ford Kenya,” Mr Mudavadi told journalists in Kisumu yesterday.

He said that a joint technical committee was almost done with its work, and will update the two parties in their next individual meetings.

LYRICAL

As Mr Mudavadi rallied his troops behind the deal in Kisumu, Mr Wetang’ula was addressing women members of the county assembly from his party in Elementaita, Nakuru County, waxing lyrical about the prospects of the proposed partnership.

“Moving into the Ford-Kenya-ANC merger, we have resolved that we shall form the next government with others or others will form the next government with us. Being outside government is not funny,” Ford-Kenya deputy party leader Boni Khalwale said.

But while the two leaders supported the bid, last week, divisions over who between them will be the leader of the yet-to-be-formed party exposed the thin foundation that the proposed relationship rests.

Mr Wetang’ula will also get another chance to rally his troops around the deal today when the party leadership meets the National Executive Council, and the parliamentary group in Nakuru.

CONFIDANTE

The meeting will make a formal stand, or way forward, on the proposed partnership, and the future of Ford-Kenya in Nasa—a coalition Mr Wetang’ula had last month said turned his back on him, when he was removed from his Senate minority leader post in favour of Mr Odinga’s ally and confidante, Siaya senator James Orengo. It is out of this anger, Mr Wetang’ula explained, that the party wanted to forge a new alliance with ANC led by Musalia Mudavadi.

The two leaders have argued they want to unite the western part of Kenya, majority of whom are from their ethnic Luhyia community, before forging ahead as a united front to look for support in other parts of the country.

“We will sit and relook at our position in the Nasa coalition. We will also hear from the team working on the modalities of the ANC-Ford Kenya merger because we need this to be a unanimous party decision,” Ford-Kenya secretary general Eseli Simiyu said of the meeting.

CORDIAL

But as ANC and Ford-Kenya insist on the merger, the deputy president has been making inroads in the region in an attempt to take advantage of the fissures in Nasa to gain political support in the region.

“I have been an emissary of the Deputy President in Western Kenya, and I have attended over 10 meetings these past few days. The reception has been cordial, and it can only get better,” Nandi senator Samson Cherargei told the Saturday Nation.

Mr Cherargei had joined Mr Mudavadi and Mr Wetang’ula in a meeting in Vihiga county two weeks ago in which the two leaders joined the DP’s bid to oppose calls by Mr Odinga to amend the Constitution to bring in a third tier of devolution for the creation of 14 regions to manage distribution of resources to the 47 counties.

STRATEGIC

Kakamega’s Senator Cleophas Malala’s selection to deputise Senator James Orengo in the senate is a strategic move by ODM to consolidate their influence in the region. This is after opposition senator, majority of whom are in ODM, felt the seat should be given to western region.

Meanwhile, Mr Odinga’s deputy, Kakamega governor Wycliffe Oparanya, has declared his intention to run for president in 2022, hoping to galvanise the support of the same region—western Kenya—to ascend to the top seat.

“I want this thing, same case to Mudavadi and Wetang’ula. Now, let us look for it, and if we will need to talk in the days ahead, that is okay,” Mr Oparanya said.”

The county chief has defended Mr Odinga’s inroads in the region.