Deputy President William Ruto has made a U-turn from his earlier stance of not working with fringe parties to back his bid next year, and now is seeking an alliance with the outfits to save his presidential ambition from going up in smoke.
In a move to avert a fallout and mass walkout from his hustler nation, especially in Mt Kenya region, Ruto has sent emissaries to the leaders of the parties for a roundtable talk and chart a path that will see UDA form an alliance and not go it all alone to the polls in August.
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”All those who have been isolated are welcome on board. We cannot form a government if we keep isolating these small parties. I am ready to work with them,” Ruto said over the weekend in Migori when he was hosted by Governor Okoth Obado.
Previously there had been disquiet in Tanga Tanga especially over small parts from Mt Kenya. Party leaders Mwangi Kiunjuri (The Service Party) and Moses Kuria (Chama Cha Kazi), previously thought to be fully behind the DP’s presidential bid have since charted their own political paths in their various outfits and currently are part of a larger group (Mt Kenya Unity Caucus), bringing together the region’s leaders under a single umbrella to agitate for interests in 2022.
Last week, leaders representing various political parties from the region met in Naivasha to list shared positions in appointive positions, equity in resource sharing as some of irreducible minimum to be met by those seeking presidential votes from their community.
They also unanimously elected Narc Kenya party leader Martha Karua as the interim spokesperson for the group.
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The meeting also saw the group indirectly attack Deputy President William Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party that had insisted, to have all those supporting the DP’s State House bid join its fold.
”For a long time, we fought the one-party dictatorship to bring back plural politics in Kenya. That is something we’re committed to safeguarding. We have seen in the history of our country that monolithic parties become oppressive,” Martha Karua, also Narc-Kenya leader said.
