DP Ruto defers meeting with Rift aspirants
Deputy President William Ruto when he addressed traders at the Kongowea Market in Mombasa.
Deputy President William Ruto has postponed indefinitely a meeting he was to have with aspirants from 10 counties in his Rift Valley backyard.
The aspirants are seeking to vie for various posts on his United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party in the 2022 polls.
The meeting had been slated for Tuesday next week at the DP’s Karen residence.
Ms Veronica Maina, the UDA secretary-general, made the announcement in a notice released to the members on Thursday.
“Notice is hereby given of postponement of the cluster 5 meeting that was to be held on 26, October 2021,….new dates will be communicated soon,” stated Ms Maina.
The aspirants are from Bomet, Kericho, Nandi, Uasin Gishu, Egeyo Marakwet, Baringo, Samburu, Turkana, West Pokot and Trans Nzoia counties.
The meeting was to be held in the backdrop of concerns by aspirants on the impending nomination process. They wanted to be assured that there would be no favourite candidates for the governor, Senate, parliamentary and County Assembly positions.
In his recent six-day tour of the Coast, Dr Ruto held a meeting with aspirants.
“During a consultative meeting with delegates drawn from Lamu, Kwale, Mombasa, Taita Taveta and Tana River counties at Wild Waters in Mombasa, in the company of 14 MPs from the region; gave them assurance of free, fair and democratic nominations,” tweeted Dr Ruto on Monday.
Last week, Dr Ruto held a meeting with aspirants from Murang’a, Kirinyaga, Nyandarua, Embu, Kiambu, Machakos, Kitui and Makueni at his Karen residence in part of efforts to consolidate his grip of the Mount Kenya region.
The Deputy President is keen to avert a fall out ahead of and after UDA primaries in what could determine his fate in the Presidential contest.
In Kirinyaga for example, UDA top guns and strategists have been keen on wooing Governor Anne Waiguru who previously had a frosty relation with Dr Ruto. The move has caused disquiet in the county as Kirinyaga Woman rep Purity Wangui Ngirici who seeks to contest the governor’s post feeling shortchanged.
