ICT and Digital Economy Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo has disclosed why he chose to work with President William Ruto ahead of the 2022 general elections.
According to the CS, he made a deliberate decision to team up with Ruto, who at the time was deputy president, because he felt the need for change in the politics of the country.
Owalo who spoke on KTN News said that he felt that the person that was best placed to bring about the change was Ruto.
He noted that the country's politics has for a long time revolved around tribal lines and that needed to change.
"When I decided to work with William Ruto he was deputy president in 2020. I made a deliberate decision to work with Ruto because I believed we needed an agent of change," Owalo said.
"We needed a paradigm shift from politics of rhetoric, politics built around tribal enclaves and tribal chiefs to a politics that is more issue-based that will bring Kenya together and I felt that Ruto was the agent of necessity that we required for a presidential candidature perspective."
Owalo insisted that he made a conscious decision and did not do it in anticipation that he would get a job in Cabinet.
He noted that he has previously played a part in shaping the country from the private sector and he was okay with that.
"That was a conscious decision I made based on conviction. It was not in anticipation of appointment to any position that was not my preoccupation and I've played a part in this country from a private sector perspective, Owalo said.
Owalo was one time a close ally of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and a member of the ODM party. He, however, quit the party in August 2019.
The Nairobi-based management consultant formerly served as ODM's strategist and Raila's aide in the 2013 General Elections.
He was also in Nasa's secretariat in the run-up to the 2017 election.
"My resignation is informed by the fact that my political ideology, convictions and belief no longer has convergence or depict and congruence and common denominator with that of the ODM party, its value orientation and practices," part of Owalo's resignation letter read.
