Federal Party of Kenya has lost it's national leader to Ford Kenya, whose boss is NASA principal Moses Wetang'ula.
Andrew Kutitila will lose all the benefits of controlling the party as he will be an ordinary member with the life option, if he subscribes to a Sh20,000 fee.
This will not earn him any position in the party but might ensure his political survival.
Wetang'ula, who is Bungoma Senator, said on Sunday that he is "now a relieved man" as there will be minimal opposition to this party in Trans Nzoia.
FPK was the party other than Jubilee that was making progress in the county and the western region. Kutitila
hails from Trans Nzoia.
Last year, FPK wrote to NASA with the aim of joining the coalition but it was reported that Wetang'ula and Musalia Mudavadi (ANC) blocked it so they could be dominant in western.
Federal candidates were forced to deceive voters that they were in NASA, decorating their posters with the opposition coalition's logos, but most of them did not make it during the general election on August 8, 2017.
Kutitila said his party would not have survived in Trans Nzoia without Ford Kenya. He lost his Sikhendu MCA seat
to Erick Musumba of Ford Kenya.
The politician announced that he will vie for the Kiminini seat as
MP Chris Wamalwa declared his bid for Trans Nzoia governor come 2022.
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During the August poll, Kutitila almost went physical with Wamalwa who supported Musumba to oust him.
After the elections, Wamalwa is said to have convinced him to join his party and even vie for his seat in exchange for support for his governor bid.
Of this, political analyst Fredrick Tonui said:
“In politics, there are no permanent enemies and no permanent friends."
Wetang’ula also received losers of elections in Matisi, Tuwan and Hospital wards - Kapchanga wa Manyoa, John walubengo and David Talam respectively.
Speaking in Kitale on Saturday, he termed his party the strongest
in the region and urged the new members to help recruit other members so it can become more popular.
The NASA principal said he has put in place mechanisms to register two million voters in Trans Nzoia and Bungoma counties to boost his chances of becoming president in 2022.
“Let everyone join Ford Kenya as it is among the old parties in Kenya's democracy and the party for the future. We must be strong in NASA so that I become the flag bearer in 2022."
On Saturday, Wetang'ula made a 'friendly request' for Mudavadi to support his 2022 presidency bid.
Noting he had all it takes to rule Kenya, he said: "I am an elder brother to Musalia. In our community, the elder brother is circumcised first, therefore I am urging him to let me face the knife before he does," he said at Milimani in Kitale county, during the homecoming of Nominated MCA Margaret Wanjala (Ford Kenya).