Kenya Kwanza presidential candidate William Ruto is facing an internal rebellion with less than 40 days remaining before the August polls.
Some of his allies are trying to leave the Kenya Kwanza Alliance, others are supporting candidates from the opposing coalition as a survival strategy, while a third group has adopted a low role in his campaigns.
Former governor of Kiambu, William Kabogo, whose Tujibebe Wakenya Party is one of eleven parties that formed a coalition with DP Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA), has publicly attacked the Kenya Kwanza Alliance.
This is because he feels that UDA has been undermining other small parties in the Mt Kenya region.
“I have refused to be consumed. Why must they force us in Kiambu to elect Wamatangi?” Mr Kabogo posed.
Kabogo has urged his supporters to vote for him for governor, but to vote for anyone they like for president, a comment interpreted as a withdrawal of support for Dr. Ruto’s presidential candidacy.
At the Coast, the recent decision by Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi, the party leader of the Pamoja African Alliance (PAA), to give Ruto a wide berth during his visit to the region last Sunday was also viewed as a silent protest illustrating the sibling rivalry within the alliance.
In Kakamega, DP Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza faction is in disarray following an internal insurrection in which Senator Cleophas Malala publicly clashed with his predecessor, Dr. Boni Khalwale.
Dr Khalwale was forced to abandon a Kenya Kwanza rally in Matungu Constituency recently after Mr Malala accused him of flirting with Azimio candidates.
The DP is also facing a headache in Samburu after Governor Moses Lenolkulal was seen supporting Raila Odinga’s Azimio la Umoja One Kenya candidates in the area.
According to reports, the rifts were caused by power struggles between the retiring county head and Senator Steve Lelegwe, a Samburu senatorial candidate for Kenya Kwanza.
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