Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka now says he will deploy President William Ruto's strategy of early campaigns in order to unseat him in the 2027 General Election.
Kalonzo says he had 'learnt from the best' on the importance of hitting the ground early on campaigns, citing Ruto's political maneuvers that put him in State House.
"I must confess that if there is anything I learnt from William Ruto, it was the fact that he started campaigning immediately after they took office with President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2013.
"Indeed, he (Ruto) started his presidential campaign as if elections were to be held the following day. That is the lesson Ruto has taught me," said Kalonzo.
He was speaking at Miumbuni Secondary School in Kathiani constituency where he commissioned a dormitory following an invite by area MP Robert Mbui.
Kalonzo said although he was not on the ballot as a presidential candidate in last year's General Election, it dawned on him that in order to win the presidency, he needed to launch his campaign as early as immediately after the elections.
"We must have a strategy to save this country, not for the sake of the Akamba nation alone, but also for the rest of Kenyan citizens who are choking under high cost of living and punitive taxation.
I am glad that the majority of Kenyans have seen how much I have sacrificed (for Raila) in 2013, 2017 and now 2022," he said.
He recalled the 2007 elections when he polled third after President Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga, and later joined the Government of National Unity as vice-president following the deadly post-election violence.
"Kenyans will remember I was in the presidential race in 2007 and I told Kibaki and Raila that I would penetrate in between them-and I actually did. People called me names, but I had to take the path I took in the interest of the nation," said Kalonzo.
Kalonzo, however, said it will not be possible to defeat Ruto in 2027 in the absence of a fair and independent electoral body in place.
"Without a fairly constituted electoral commission, we will not get electoral justice. The last time I checked, there was an agreement between Kenya Kwanza and Azimio on the stoppage of the process of constituting a new electoral body.
"But now after the collapse of the talks, we are risking Kenya Kwanza's free hand in picking the next IEBC, which will turn out to be disastrous for us," he said. [Erastus Mulwa]
Kalonzo said the only way out was to find a mechanism of returning to the negotiating table "in order to, at least, seal any loopholes that could result in a compromised electoral commission."
