Wamalwa to Mudavadi: Ruto has trapped you

Defence Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa. [File, Standard]

Defence Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa has told Musalia Mudavadi and Moses Wetangula that the power-sharing deal they signed with DP William Ruto is a scam.

Both Mudavadi and Wetangula have been promised 30 per cent of the government should Ruto win the August 9 presidential election.

However, the promise comes with a rider that the two politicians must deliver at least 70 per cent of the Western Kenya votes. That is around 1.8 million votes.

Should they succeed in that quest, and Ruto wins the presidency, then Mudavadi will be appointed the Prime Cabinet Secretary and Wetangula the Speaker of the National Assembly.

The two will also be allowed to propose a maximum of seven Cabinet secretaries and a host of principal secretaries, ambassadors among other senior government officials, all totalling to 30 per cent of the Ruto-led government.

Wamalwa believes Ruto dangled the conditional power-sharing carrot to trap Mudavadi and Wetangula, “knowing too well that it would be impossible for the duo to raise 70 per cent of the Western Kenya votes”.

“Ruto offered them a sweet deal on one side, but made it impossible for them to fulfil the conditions set for that sweet deal. I am a lawyer by profession, and I’d like to tell the two brothers of mine that they have been duped,” Wamalwa said at the Democratic Action Party of Kenya (DAP-K) headquarters in Nairobi on Friday, May 13.

The CS was at the party’s event, where its gubernatorial candidates were unveiling their running mates ahead of the August 9 General Election.

“We all know that Mudavadi ran for president in the 2013 general election. He only managed 400,000 votes, which was not even half the total votes cast in the [Western Kenya] region. You can imagine he is now being asked to raise 70 per cent of the Western Kenya votes. Honestly, that is impossible for Mudavadi and Wetangula,” said Wamalwa.

The minister said it is hypocritical of Deputy President William Ruto to propose a power-sharing deal, yet he opposed the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), which indicated how the Executive will be expanded upon adoption of the reforms document.

Running mates

At the event, Trans Nzoia gubernatorial candidate George Natembeya, who will run on DAP-K ticket, unveiled Philomena Benea, a banker, as his running mate.

Migori gubernatorial candidate John Pesa unveiled veteran journalist Matiko Bohoko as his running mate.

Kisii gubernatorial candidate Sam Ongeri unveiled Engineer Josiah Maaga as his ticket-mate.

Busia gubernatorial hopeful Moses settled on Tom Ipomai as his running mate.