UDA party, an outfit heavily linked to Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto has raided at least 28 local leaders allied to ODM party leader Raila Odinga.
The 28 elected Members of County Assembly from Kilifi County have vowed to dump Raila for Ruto ahead of the next General Election after they held talks with Malindi MP Aisha Jumwa.
Led by their deputy speaker Stanley Kenya, the ward reps further endorsed Jumwa for gubernatorial seat in the 2022 polls.
Nyali Member of Parliament Mohammed Ali told the Daily Nation that several ODM ward reps from Mombasa County have also expressed their intentions to join William Ruto’s camp.
“They are just biding their time. We have a good number of elected MCAs who are talking to us. In 2022 just like we did in Msambweni, we shall pull a fast one on ODM and its key point men including governor Hassan Ali Joho,” said Mohammed Ali.
Ali’s remarks could be pointing to recent rumor that Ruto could be angling for a running mate from the coastal region as part of his wider plan to take control of once Raila’s turf
Their move to join the Tanga Tanga comes just days after police officers disrupted a UDA meeting at the Terrace Villa resort in Nyali Constituency, Mombasa county.
This came barely two weeks after Ruto hosted a regional economic forum for the region where local leaders and professionals along the Coastal region attended.
Kivumbi.co.ke understands that Odinga’s party has controlled the region’s politics in the last three General Election but the ODM’s dominance in the region seems to be fading.
It is suspected the popularity of ODM could be sinking due to the fact that Raila’s key ally in the region, Mombasa governor Hassan Joho could be angling to vie for the presidency as his term as governor expires.
Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi, another key ally of Raila is serving his last term in office and might not command the same following he did in previous elections.
Ruto has gone on record saying he will vie for the presidency on a UDA ticket should unnamed forces within his current party Jubilee try to frustrate him.
“Some team, a cabal of sorts, came up with the stop-Ruto movement” and tried to humiliate me, Ruto said in a recent interview on Citizen TV, referring to opponents within the ruling party. “In the event that Jubilee is not available, the next best option is the United Democratic Alliance(UDA),” Ruto said in a TV interview.
The former Eldoret North MP believes other than Raila Odinga, he has no other serious competitor for the presidency in the 2022 General Election.
