WELCOME ABOARD: DPM Uhuru Kenyatta addresses Nyeri leaders from atop his vehicle at Outspan Hospital in Nyeri town on Saturday. Photo/Wambugu Kanyi
Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta dropped Justice minister Eugene Wamalwa as a possible running mate after Eldoret North MP William Ruto entered a deal to be the DPM's running mate.
Uhuru's decision to drop Eugene was arrived at after the Saboti MP insisted on being his running mate and demanded a joint presidential nomination for G7 candidates.
Sources say the Justice minister also rejected Uhuru's call to dissolve New Ford Kenya and join TNA. “Eugene jumped out of the deal when he discovered that he is not being considered as Uhuru's running mate,” said a source in New Ford Kenya, who did want to be named.
Uhuru’s camp had on Thursday indicated that an agreement between the two parties was due to be signed “anytime before next week”. The deal would have seen New Ford Kenya dissolve to join TNA and Eugene considered for Senate Speaker after the general election.
New Ford Kenya has insisted the best way forward is for a joint presidential nomination in which the group would support whoever emerged top.
“I was surprised when I heard in the media that I am a candidate for the Speaker's job,” Eugene said on Friday at the party offices “I admire Kenneth Marende a lot. In my view he is the most able Speaker I have ever known, but I have never admired his job.”
However, sources in TNA and G7 insist Eugene will still be part of Uhuru's strategy and may be designated leader of majority of speaker of the senate.
Cherangany MP Joshua Kutuny said in the power sharing game, the Saboti MP would get an important job as he has been at the core of the G7. "He cannot be wished way and I can assure you that his interest will be catered for," Kutuny added.
The G7 alliance has also relegated Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka, whom they believe will sign pact with Prime Minister Raila Odinga for a joint ticket. Kalonzo has been replaced by Water minister Charity Ngilu.
The revelations came as URP parliamentary group and NEC have finally endorsed Ruto's alliance with Uhuru as the group plots to win the polls in round one.
Ruto, who is leading a five-day URP tour of the Rift Valley, chaired the party's joint PG/NEC on Saturday night where it was resolved that he deals with Uhuru and not Raila.
"URP has formulated a strategy to win next year's election either as URP or a coalition in first round. We further resolved that we will form a coalition with like-minded parties with similar agenda and not parties of rhetoric and vitendawili (riddles)," Dujis MP Aden Duale, who confirmed the meeting, said.
Duale said URP will only enter a pact "with parties which understand the ICC equation, the same way we understand it". Uhuru and Ruto are facing crimes against humanity charges at The Hague based International Criminal Court over the 2007-08 post-election violence.
Uhuru and Ruto believe they can only win the presidency on a joint ticket. Although, political analysts believe that the Kikuyu and Kalenjin communities will not vote together, Duale said the alliance will be out to prove critics wrong.
"URP is party with all 42 tribes. TNA is a party with all 42 tribes. The alliance between the two parties is not about Uhuru and Ruto, its not about Central and Rift Valley, its not about the Kikuyu and Kalenjin but rather an alliance to unite all the 42 communities," Duale said.
"Those who are saying that community X cannot vote for community Y or cannot form an alliance belong to the past. They are the same ones who have been using the tribal card to divide Kenyans. They will be proved wrong," he said.
Uhuru and Ruto are planning to hold joint rallies to promote their alliance before the end of this month. Earlier on Saturday, Ruto told supporters at Kunyak Secondary school, Kipkelion constituency in Kericho county that his team had devised a strategy that will ensure voters go only for the first round "without subjecting this country to a run-off vote".
Ruto was accompanied by MPs Charles Keter, Isaac Ruto, Duale, Zakayo Cheruiyot, Dr Julius Kones, Dr Joyce Laboso, Jackson Kiptanui, Gideon Konchella, Benjamin Langat and URP national chairman Francis ole Kaparo.
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