The battle for the Luhya vote has turned nasty with the two main political factions - Kenya Kwanza and Azimio One Kenya - flexing their muscles, in what is being viewed as a gruelling encounter like never seen before.
On Saturday, May 13, Defence Cabinet Secretary, Eugene Ludovic Wamalwa, mocked Amani National Congress's (ANC) Wycliffe Musalia Mudavadi and his Ford Kenya counterpart, Moses Masika Wetangula, over the power-sharing deal they signed with Deputy President, William Kipchichir Arap Samoei Ruto.
Wamalwa opined that the duo had been scammed and had been lied to by the Deputy President who wants their backing in the presidential vote.
Both Mudavadi and Wetangula have been promised 30 per cent of the government should DP Ruto win the August presidential election.
According to CS Wamalwa, DP Ruto knows "too well that it would be impossible for the duo to raise 70 per cent of the Western Kenya votes”.
“Ruto offered them a sweet deal on one side but made it impossible for them to fulfil the conditions set for that sweet deal. I am a lawyer by profession, and I would like to tell the two brothers of mine that they have been duped,” Wamalwa stated.
“We all know that Mudavadi ran for President in the 2013 General Election. He only managed 400,000 votes, which was not even half the total votes cast in the [Western Kenya] region.
"You can imagine he is now being asked to raise 70 per cent of the Western Kenya votes. Honestly, that is impossible for Mudavadi and Wetangula,” he added.
However, the deed of agreement in our possession does not contain any clause that requires the duo to deliver 70 per cent of the Western Kenya votes.
Wamalwa's remarks did not sit well with Wetangula who termed the CS a lost man.
The Bungoma Senator expressed his distaste for the CS, arguing that Wamalwa was supporting Raila Odinga yet he knows he will not be given any position in the Azimio One Kenya government.
Wetangula also challenged CS Wamalwa to then offer him and Mudavadi a better deal if the Kenya Kwanza one was bad. He opined that the CS was being politically schooled by Raila and his brigade unlike them who decided not to support his shot at the presidency.
"Eugene Wamalwa, stop wailing and ranting louder than the bereaved about Kenya kwanza. If our deal is bad, where is your good one? If you had kept your mouth shut, one would have thought you are clever!! Endelea kupangwa (continue being misused)," Wetangula stated.
Wetangula was speaking amid debate over a coalition agreement between the Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA), Mudavadi’s ANC and Wetangula's Ford Kenya that was deposited with the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP).
The three parties face the August poll as a coalition of political parties, called the Kenya Kwanza alliance. The agreement recognizes the three parties as “Founding Member Parties”.
