Murang’a senatorial aspirant Peter Kagwanja has advised ODM leader Raila Odinga consider picking a running mate from other regions apart from Mt Kenya.
Kagwanja who is a Jubilee member argued that those entire leaders from the Mt Kenya region fronted to be Raila’s running mate lack national appeal and grassroots support and hence cannot deliver votes to Raila in the August election.
The governance expert said that while the Mt Kenya region has the votes to help Raila succeed President Uhuru Kenyatta, Kagwanja said that the huge voting bloc has weak candidates to be Raila’s number two.
“We have the numbers but we must insist on a strategy that will make us win not using the demographic aspect to claim the position. We should never worry because our interests are being taken care of by the President who is the patron and financier of Azimio,” Kagwanja said.
Narc Kenya leader Martha Karua, Nakuru Governor Lee Kinyanjui, and former presidential candidate Peter Kenneth are being considered to be Raila’s presidential running mate ahead of his titanic battle with Deputy President William Ruto.
This comes at a time when Wiper leader Kalozo Musyoka dropped the clearest hint that he would be a running mate to the ODM leader Raila Odinga for the third time.
The former vice president who was responding to questions from journalists at the party headquarters on Tuesday, April 5, said there was no need of discussing the obvious.
“Let us not talk about the obvious. We don’t discuss the obvious,” Kalonzo said.
For the first time since the advent of multiparty in Kenya, President Uhuru’s backyard will not be fielding a serious presidential candidate despite being the huge voting bloc, a move that has prompted frontrunners to entice the region with the deputy president position.