UDA members in Busia have began lobbying for state appointments in president-elect William Ruto’s administration in case he is sworn in as the commander in chief.
The members, who addressed the press on Tuesday, said the UDA team in the county defied all odds and delivered more than 40,000 votes for the outgoing deputy president despite the county being an Azimio stronghold.
Ruto was declared winner of the presidential election on Monday, but Azimio la Umoja presidential candidate Raila Odinga has contested the results which he said on Tuesday were “null and void”.
Azimio is expected to challenge Ruto’s election at the Supreme Court.
But on Tuesday, UDA members in Busia expressed confidence that Ruto will be sworn in.
The party’s county chief mobiliser Edwin Oduya said the president-elect will remain a darling of many.
“In Busia county, we have leaders who vied for various elective seats. All of our leaders in Busia who vied for various seats are worthy competitors, and they have done us proud,” the chief mobiliser said.
“They have marketed themselves by ensuring Ruto gets many votes in Busia county. That is why as people from Busia, we would like to remind the president-elect that...he should not forget the people...who stood with him."
The final Independent and Electoral and Boundaries Commission tally, going by the results declared by chairman Wafula Chebukati on Tuesday, indicated that Raila received majority of the votes cast in Busia compared to Ruto.
The ODM leader received 226,042 (81.68 per cent), while Ruto managed to get 40,801 (17.63 per cent) of the votes tallied at the border county. 276,730 votes were valid and 2,889 were rejected.
“We in Busia would like to assure Kenyans in all corners of the Republic of Kenya that Ruto is not a president by default because he has been elected by majority Kenyans because of his support for the people of Kenya," Oduya said.
"We have confidence in Ruto because we know that he will fulfil all the agendas he promised in his manifesto.
“All of us know that the election is over and because Ruto has won, each one of us in Busia will support his presidency. That explains why Busia has remained peaceful. We have not reported any chaos.”
Fredrick Omondi, who vied for the Burumba MCA seat, praised Kenyans for embracing peace after the polls.
He said the electoral agency did a commendable job as demonstrated by the peace in the country.
The former MCA candidate said if the presidential election was not transparent as alleged by the Azimio coalition, the international community would not have recognised Ruto’s election.
Omondi called on Raila to abandon his push to challenge the presidential results at the Supreme and join Ruto in developing the country.
(edited by Amol Awuor)
