Fourteen aspirants who lost during Jubilee party nominations in Deputy President William Ruto's home constituency of Turbo have defied his plea to back Kevin Okwara and resolved to support independent candidate Janet Sitienei Rotich.
Okwara beat other Jubilee hopefuls in the primaries, including the incumbent MP Elisha Busienei,
to clinch the coveted ticket.
Two other candidates who had resorted to vie as independents alongside Rotich have dropped their bids and pledged to support her.
This comes barely a week after Ruto and President Uhuru Kenyatta toured Uasin Gishu County and urged losers in the Jubilee nominations to support winners.
The duo called on their supporters in the county to vote in a 6-piece pattern to ensure Jubilee gains majority representation in all houses.
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Okwara, a Luhya, won the primaries in the cosmopolitan constituency whose majority inhabitants are the Kalenjin.
His win sparked protests from some of the losers
who said he was not a native of the area.
But in response, Okwara said: "I was elected by all tribes in Turbo and I am confident that they will still back me to win on August 8."
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However on Saturday, in what they termed as "the
Turbo declaration", the losers vowed to support Rotich.
Led by Julius Kitur, the beaten group declared that Turbo constituency had it's "owners".
"Uhuru, Ruto and Governor Jackson Mandago have their votes safe but as concerns MP we will back Rotich,"
Kitur said.
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Rotich will now
face off with Okwara and ODM's David Songok.
It's not yet known whether Ruto will go back in the area to quell the revolt and
campaign for Okwara, but analysts say Okwara has a bigger chance at winning the seat through Jubilee.
The Deputy President hails from Kosachei village of the constituency.
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