• Battle for the governorship in a Western Kenya county hits a crescendo with the election of MP to powerful House leadership post.
• Tangatanga MP ditched by grassroots strategists.
Image: COURTESY
The battle for the governorship in a county in Western Kenya will pose a major headache to ODM leader Raila Odinga. The contest pits top ODM officials. Other contestants are close confidants of the AU envoy. Hours after one of the aspirants was elected to a top position in Parliament, some close allies of the MP were heard bragging that they now have one foot firmly in the governor’s office. They said they do not fear ODM officials salivating for the job as they also have Raila’s ear. Their only nightmare, they admitted, is a former MP who ran in the 2017 polls as an independent candidate. The ex-legislator has massive grassroots support and is seen as the front runner in the race that has attracted bigwigs.
Some officials of a fringe party which is seeking an alliance with Jubilee are an unhappy lot. Corridors is informed that the officials who have fallen out with the party leader are planning to move to court to block any deal from being signed with Jubilee. The officials are accusing the party leader of seeking to auction the outfit ahead of the 2022 General Elections for personal gain. The party leader recently held a meeting with some officials allied to him where he revealed the plan and sought their endorsement. It is only a matter of time before the officials start washing dirty linen in public.
A governor from the Rift Valley is a worried man. The once vocal leader who had a national profile has gone underground. But why? Sources whispered to Corridors that the man suspects he could be among the county chiefs targeted for arrest on graft allegations. Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission CEO Twalib Mbarak has announced that the arrest of at least two governors is looming. Apart from procurement irregularities, the anti-graft agencies had uncovered suspicious movement of large sums of money in the governor’s personal account. Well, the fall of a man who was seen as a big political player in 2022 could be in the offing.
The political camp of an MP from Central Kenya is in disarray. Why? Sources whispered to Corridors that the Tangatanga MP has been fighting with his campaigners who have advised him to ditch Deputy President William Ruto. The grassroots strategists have told the man to his face that with President Uhuru Kenyatta going flat out to stamp his authority in the region, none of his political detractors will survive in 2022. Some of his backers have now switched to a rival aspirant.