Deputy president William Ruto is on the verge of striking a deal with One Kenya Alliance (OKA) principal as details emerge of the coalition imminent breakup.
OKA which brings together Kalonzo Musyoka, Musalia Mudavadi, Gideon Moi and Moses Wetangula has been championing for one of their own to be on the ballot supported by the rest.
However, the alliance lack popularity even as a united force, Raila Odinga and William Ruto are the clear presidential favorites in the 2022 race.
The four principals, expect Gideon Moi, had been adamant that they must and will vie, and will not again rally behind Raila despite pressure to do so.
But fresh details suggest that Kalonzo and Gideon Moi have decided to throw in the towel and support the ODM leader.
Sources told The Star that Kalonzo has arrived at this decision but is still afraid of the reaction from his allies, hence why his anti-Raila stand remains.
Mudavadi, the daily was told, that he is the most stubborn one – who has even decided to form a new alliance “Kenya Kwanza” amid reports OKA is dying.
Wetangula on the other hand is also still noncommittal to join Raila, there have been several reports linking him to Ruto in the past.
A source close to Ruto’s insiders told the Standard that his team was on the verge of a deal with an OKA principal and talks are in top gear to win over a second one.
“We already have convinced one of the former NASA principals and intensified talks to have the second also commit,” the source was quoted by the Standard.
At the moment, only Wetangula and Mudavadi are still hesitant to join Raila – meaning that the source might be referring to the two.
Ruto has desperately been hunting political heavyweights from Western to tilt the scales against Raila in his march to State House.
The game plan is to run away with the Western votes — a traditional Raila bastion and the backyard of One Kenya Alliance chiefs Musalia of ANC and Wetangula of Ford Kenya.
At the moment, Raila has four bases which are strongly behind him – Western, Nyanza, Nairobi and Coast.
Ruto on the other hand has only two – Rift Valley and Mt Kenya and he is quickly losing the grip on the latter as survey shows Raila is quickly gaining popularity in Central Kenya.
So desperate is Ruto to sway Western block that he even tried reaching out to Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya.
Over the last few months, Ruto has directly engaged Oparanya but the ODM deputy party leader says he is in ODM to stay.
With Operanya out of the question, Ruto hopes a deal with Mudavadi and Wetangula could bag him enough support to make Western a swing region rather than outright Raila’s stronghold.
Related: 2 Of The 4 OKA Principals Throw In Towel And Decide To Support Raila
