Nairobi 2022
OpenLife Nigeria reports that as preparations for a presidential election in a major east Africa country assume heightened dimension, Deputy President William Ruto who is also a major contestant in the 2022 presidential contest has cried out over the depletion of his supporters home base.
Only recently, Precisely on Monday, October 11, 2021, William Ruto‘s presidential bid, suffered a severe blow after One Kenya Alliance, OKA, principals agreed to support former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s presidential bid.
OKA chiefs include Amani National Congress, ANC, party leader, Musalia Mudavadi, his Wiper counterpart, Kalonzo Musyoka, KANU Chairman, Gideon Moi, Ford Kenya Party leader, Moses Wetangula and former Lugari MP, Cyrus Jirongo.
According to a news report, the five have signed a pre-election deal with Raila Odinga, who has promised to appoint them to senior positions in his government once elected as President in 2022.
The five leaders have been promised positions of a running mate, Speaker of the Senate, Speaker of the National Assembly, Chief Minister, and other powerful seats in the government.
Following this political invasion of his home base, Ruto told Mt Kenya on November 14 to
support their own instead of backing Raila “Deputy President William Ruto has asked the Mt Kenya region to rally behind one of their own for the presidency instead of supporting ODM leader Raila,” a source revealed.
The next Kenyan general election is scheduled to take place on 9 August 2022. Voters will elect the President, members of the National Assembly and Senate, county governors and members of the 47 county assemblies.
Raila Odinga is also the leader of the Orange Democratic Movement,ODM, a centre-left political party in Kenya. It is the successor of a grassroots people’s movement which was formed during the 2005 Kenyan constitutional referendum campaign.
Born on December 21, 1966, William Samoei Arap Ruto has held since 2013. He served as the Acting President of Kenya between 6 and 8 October 2014 when President Uhuru Kenyatta was at the International Criminal Court (ICC), in the Hague, Netherlands.
He previously served in various ministerial positions, including the Ministries of Home Affairs, Agriculture, and Higher Education Science and Technology. He was the Secretary-General of the Kenya Africa National Union (KANU), the former ruling political party, and the MP for Eldoret North Constituency between December 1997 and January 2013.
He won the seat in the 1997 elections after defeating Reuben Chesire. He was appointed to the position of Assistant Minister in the Office of the President by President Daniel Arap Moi in 1998.
He was promoted to be Minister for Home Affairs in August 2002. Ruto has also previously served as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Constitutional Reform in the 9th Parliament.
Ruto was among the list of people who were indicted to stand trial at the ICC for their involvement in Kenya’s 2007/2008 political violence. However, the ICC case was faced with challenges especially concerning the withdrawal of key prosecution witnesses. In April 2016, the Court dropped charges against Ruto.
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