Recently Amani National Congress (ANC) led by Musalia Mudavadi, has intensified its push to have their party leader deputize William Ruto as his running mate. Kakamega Senator, Cleophas Malala, a man who has turned out to be the de facto spokesman of Musalia Mudavadi in recent times, has been the voice and face of this new push. He has been the one with the leg on the pedal, pushing this idea to the chagrin of the UDA part of the Kenya Kwanza Alliance. He was the first to tell Rigathi Gachagua off when he said in an interview on Citizen TV recently, that the running mates position is reserved for the Mount Kenya region and that Musalia Mudavadi and his ANC party were fully aware of this when they joined them to form the Kenya Kwanza Alliance. Malala, seemingly under instructions from his boss, has been pushing for Musalia, to get the running mate's position a fete he has intensified in the last week, where he has said in several rallies that Musalia is more experienced and qualified for the position of the Deputy President than Rigathi Gachagua. Musalia has held several high positions in government including being a Vice President and Deputy Prime Minister among others. While Rigathi's highest position held before being Mathira member of parliament was a district officer a position that was replaced by the sub-county commissioner in the new constitution. Malala says the Kenya kwanza alliance isn't a coalition of regions but a coalition of parties and if UDA is getting the position of President then it's only fair that ANC gets the Deputy President. This position is likely to complicate the intricate balancing act the deputy president has to deal with in crafting a winning team in the coming Kenyan general elections.
On the other hand, the Azimio la Umoja coalition led by President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga is also having a fair share of their own running mate's headache. This was further complicated by the crossing over of the OKA team led by Kalonzo Musyoka and Gideon Moi yesterday, to the Azimio team. It is believed that Kalonzo staged hours of a standoff yesterday before the signing of the Azimio deal and that top on the list of his demands was the running mate's position. It took the intervention of the President himself to have Kalonzo sign the deal and say Raila Tosha. Sources intimate that President Uhuru Kenyatta has interests in the running mates position and intends to have it reserved for one of his men from the Mount Kenya region. Being the chairman of the Azimio Governing Council which is the coalition's top decision-making organ, Uhuru Kenyatta will be wielding immense powers in Azimio behind the scenes and is likely to have his way in the matter of the running mate from Azimio's side among other positions.
All in all, it's going to be a matter of intense lobbying and careful delicate balancing acts for both sides of the coalitions as they seek to fill this critical position. This is will make or break either side's ambitions depending on how they handle it. For instance, if Kenya Kwanza settles on Musalia Mudavadi, Ruto risks a backlash from the mountains as most of them expect to bag the post, and if Rigathi Gachagua or any other person from Mount Kenya is given the position William Ruto will most likely lose the Mulembe nation. On the other hand, if Kalonzo doesn't get the running mate's position, assuming he was promised to have it, he might walk out of the coalition, a fete that might not make him go with many Kamba votes as such, since most kambas were in Azimio long before he joined, but it might portray the Raila-Uhuru axis as dishonest and this might give more impetus and push to the Ruto led Kenya kwanza coalition. If Kalonzo gets the position by any chance, which is unlikely, then Raila risks losing the mount Kenya votes that he has so tirelessly worked for.
Kenyan elections is a delicate ethnic balancing act and this running mate's headache in my opinion is the ultimate swing vote. It is the ultimate sum game and whoever plays his cards well and can pacify the losing candidate and manage the likely fallout better than the other, will be the winner in the coming Kenyan general elections to be held on the 9th of August 2022.
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