Deputy President, William Ruto, has moved to tame a looming fallout between the Amani National Congress (ANC) of Musalia Mudavadi and the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party after differences between candidates in the Western Kenya.
Insiders state that the DP's visit to Western Kenya was organized last minute with the aim of brokering a truce between Kakamega Senator, Cleophas Malala, and Boni Khalwale after the two publicly differed over their support for one another.
The tour came barely a week after the Kenya Kwanza team held a mega rally at Bukhungu Stadium last weekend.
During the rally, Ruto urged the two to support each other's bid even as they called on aspirants to maintain unity so as to lock out their competitors from the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition party.
The DP explained that the faction risked losing votes in the region due to the sibling rivalry between the two parties.
Ruto's statements were echoed by his longtime ally and Mumias East Member of Parliament, Benjamin Washiali, who downplayed the differences.
"We have men in our team and there are times when we fail to reach a common ground but that is common and it is not a big issue," stated Washiali.
Ruto's intervention saw the two leaders broker a truce as they promised to campaign together in the coming weeks.
"If you vote for William Ruto, you vote for Malala and if you vote for the DP you should also vote for my brother Boni Khalwale," Malala stated.
This came after Malala accused Khalwale of campaigning for his opponent and the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) candidate Fernandes Barasa.
"I want you to know this, I am the son of Luhya land from Kakamega, Malala is also a son of the Luhya community as well as Fernandes. All of us are looking for leadership and out of all these, I am the best, you can vote for me, and for the rest, you can decide who you want," Khalwale stated.
"Are you meeting him at night and that is why you are selling him? This is my bedroom and I intend to get 100 per cent of the votes, unless you want to get 2 per cent, stop speaking about others," Malala stated.
