Former Kakamega senator Boni Khalwale has been told not to dare set foot in Malava constituency until he pays more than Sh300,000 he owes individuals who were ferried to his home on the day he decamped to Jubilee from Ford Kenya, where he was the deputy party leader.
DP William Ruto with former Kakamega Senator Bonny Khalwale when he defected to jubilee meeting, Malinya
Buses hired by his team carried more than 300 youths with the promise that they will each be paid an allowance of Sh1,000 for attending the meeting, only to return home emptyhanded with the assurance they would be paid the following week to no avail.
The agitated lads stormed an apartment in Malava town where Moses Ambani, one of Khalwale’s footsoldiers who mobilised the youths to shore up the numbers had rented a room, demanding to be paid their dues forcing him to flee for his life.
It is claimed William Ruto who visited Khalwale Malinya home in Kakamega county to welcome him to Jubilee, had long released funds only for Khalwale to pocket it. The ex-senator has declared he is in the race to succeed Governor Wycliffe Operanya who is serving his second and final term.
Oparanya, who does not see eye to eye with Khalwale, his challenger in the 2017 polls, has since declared his intention to gun for the presidency come 2022. Khalwale is believed to have used the youths to hoodwink Ruto that he had huge following in the region.
Khalwale’s defection to the Ruto faction of Jubilee that is deeply immersed in premature 2022 campaigns came as little surprise, having openly been going around the Western region to drum up support for the DP’s bid to succeed Uhuru Kenyatta. His defection happened when the Moses Wetang’ula-led Ford Kenya had marked him for disciplinary action.
From the outset, the former Ikolomani MP was viewed with suspicion when he tried to push the proposed ANC-Ford-K merger ostensibly to auction the Luhya community that forms the biggest constituency of the two political parties to Ruto ahead of 2022.
The DP has made Western his second home, what with his countless rounds of trips to the area in search of the Luhya vote. Save for 2002 when the region voted for Narc to a man, Western has been known to scatter their votes, the end result being a divided house lacking in formidable leadership.
ANC party leader Musalia Mudavadi
ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi has been faulted for failing to lead from the front towards the realisation of the elusive Luhya unity. A one-time vice president and deputy prime minister, Mudavadi was on the New Year Day of 2017 crowned as Luhya spokesperson during an exercise held at Kakamega’s Bukhungu Stadium and presided over by Cotu secretary general Francis Atwoli.
Mudavadi has since lost the trust of Atwoli. The veteran trade unionist is said to be planning the mother of all declarations christened the Bukhungu Declaration II, where he is expected to announce the community’s 2022 flagbearer.
Besides consolidating Ruto’s support, Khalwale hopes to play a spoiler role (so is Oparanya, whose presidential ambitions have been dismissed as another Ruto ploy to split the region’s vote) at the behest of the DP. How Khalwale fares on with his Ruto project is a matter of wait-and-see.
