ANC and Ford Kenya are in a deal to lock out ODM in Western as they plan to win two parliamentary seats left vacant recently.
ANC boss Musalia Mudavadi and his Ford Kenya counterpart Moses Wetang'ula have agreed to ensure they do not lose Matungu and Kabuchai parliamentary seats respectively during forthcoming by-elections.
The late Justus Murunga held the Matungu seat on an ANC ticket, while James Lusweti was elected Kabuchai MP on the Ford Kenya ticket.
Ford Kenya will not field a candidate in the Matungu by-election while ANC will not participate in the Kabuchai poll.
Following the burial of Murunga on Saturday, the stage was set for bruising battle amongst ANC, ODM and Jubilee.
Although a member of the ANC party, Murunga was a key ally of DP Ruto and the Tangatanga movement.
Wetang'ula said the first step in pushing for unity of the region is for Mudavadi and him to be on the same page in the Matungu and Kabuchai by-elections.
“Matungu is an ANC zone and we as Ford- K will not field a candidate to compete with our brothers in ANC. And similarly, I know my brother Musalia with his ANC party will not give Ford Kenya unnecessary competition when we embark on the Kabuchai by-election following the demise of our brother John Lusweti Mukwe,” Wetang'ula said.
On his part, Mudavadi said there was no need for introducing unnecessary political fights within ANC and Ford-K in the two by-elections.
Wetang’ula said that negotiated democracy would increase the chances of both parties retaining their seats in their strongholds.
ODM performed dismally in 2017 in Kakamega county, only managing two parliamentary seats out of a possible 12. ANC won five, while Jubilee bagged four and Ford Kenya one.
ODM leader Raila Odinga, speaking during the burial of Murunga, said all parties should be free to participate in the by-elections.
He reminded other parties that they fielded candidates in the Kibra by-election, which had been left vacant following the death of Ken Okoth in July 2019.
“We live in democratic society. This was demonstrated sometimes back when we held a by-election in Kibra constituency in Nairobi, where many parties fielded candidates even though the seat was held by an ODM MP,” Raila said.
Joseph Wamukoya was Matungu's first MP and was elected on the Kanu ticket in 1997. David Were, who served between 2002 and 2017, was elected on the Narc, ODM and New Ford Kenya parties.
During the 2017 elections, Murunga bagged 18,088 votes to beat Peter Nabulindo of Ford Kenya who got 10,636 votes with incumbent Were finishing third with 8,618 votes.
Lusweti was serving his second term.
He won the seat when his predecessor, Wetang’ula, vied for Senate post and won. Kabuchai was split from the larger Sirisia constituency.
The seat is also likely to attract the attention of Raila and Ruto.
