Former Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale on Sunday reached out to Deputy President William Ruto to pick a running mate from the Western region in his 2022 bid.
He was speaking during a rally in Kakamega where the DP had stopped in preparation for his tour of South Nyanza.
Khalwale made an appeal to Ruto to settle on either ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi or Bungoma Senator Moses Wetangula.
“We have made an early stand and it is well-known that we are supporting your presidency in 2022. Don’t do to us what NASA leader Raila Odinga did to this community. Pick your running mate from western,” he stated.
Those present were Senate Speaker Ken Lusaka, MPs Malulu Injendi (Malava), Justus Murunga (Matungu), Benjamin Washiali (Mumias East), Didmus Barasa (Kimilili), John Waluke (Sirisia), Emmanuel Wangwe (Navakholo), and Dan Wanyama (Webuye West).
Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa, who accompanied the DP, explained that he had pleaded with both Wetangula and Mudavadi to join the Ruto bandwagon to no avail.
He taunted both leaders by joking that Raila had joined the government before them.
"I again asked them to join Ruto for 2022 elections, but again they became sluggish. Now Odinga has joined the government before them,” he commented.
While calling for unity among Kenyans, Ruto urged the youth to exploit the huge opportunities offered to them by the government to enrich their skills.
He affirmed that the government was working on finding lucrative markets for alternative cash crops so that farmers will no longer suffer in the hands of cultivating just maize, sugarcane, coffee, tea, among others.
To realise this, he said he would work together with the leadership of Kakamega county and other regions in Kenya.
