Three potential presidential candidates from Western have agreed to hold joint rallies in a strategy to present a single candidate in 2017.
Representatives of Amani National Congress leader Musalia Mudavadi, Ford Kenya’s Moses Wetang’ula and UDP’s Cyrus Jirongo have been meeting in Nairobi to agree on how to unite the region and restore its political honour.
“We have held four meetings and we’ve finally agreed the three will hold a breakfast meeting in Nairobi on Tuesday and brief the media on the details,” said Charles Werangai, the convener of the talks.
The three will then head to Western, where they will hold joint rallies starting with Bungoma and Vihiga counties next weekend.
The group was to address the media last Tuesday, but that was postponed to allow Mudavadi, who has been in the US, to return.
Sources involved in the discussions told the Star an Ababu Namwamba-led Busia team sent a representative on Friday.
The team is said to have insisted on having their own party because the county does not have a presidential candidate.
Cotu secretary general Francis Atwoli on Monday said he will unveil a presidential candidate for the Luhya community in March next year in Kakamega.
He said they will negotiate with other friendly communities for a deal putting the community in a better position to seek the country’s leadership.
“Those who are not seeing what we’re doing will be surprised the Luhya community can vote for one candidate,” he said.
Yesterday, Werangai said some issues were yet to be resolved, but much has been covered.
“When many people have vested interests, there must be a push-and-pull situation,” he said.
“The general perception has been that Luhyas cannot agree, but, this time round, they will read from the same script.”
Werangai said a team has been formed to come up with scenarios, based on statistics, to guide selection of the best possible candidate.
