The meeting between Deputy President William Ruto and Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya has elicited talk and unraveled some of the plans that have been in place for a long time.
Confidants of the DP have revealed that "Hustler Nation" has been trying to lure Kakamega governor to their camp for two years now.
Speaking to the media on April 13, 2021, Mathira Member of Parliament Rigathi Gachagua revealed that they had held a series of private meetings with Oparanya as they plot his exit from ODM.
File image of Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua. |Photo| Courtesy|
He revealed that DP Ruto first approached Oparanya in 2019 again in 2020 to woo him to his camp. Gachagua said that the move would strengthen their team and compel some legislators to join their team as well.
"That meeting between Ruto and Oparanya is the 4th meeting in a row. We have been meeting Oparanya and I have been present in two previous meetings. He approached us in the year 2019 and 2020 wanting to join the hustler nation.
“It is only now that he has agreed. Those meetings were held in private, he didn’t want them publicized but now he is ready and the last meeting was at his request and didn’t mind it being publicized because he is ready to come to us,” Gachagua stated.
He downplayed allegations that the Kakamega governor was playing mediator between DP Ruto and ODM leader Raila Odinga.
Turkana Governor Josephat Nanok also confirmed that the DP and Oparanya have had meetings for over two years now.
The meetings have since caused unrest among supporters of ODM, DP Ruto, and President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Oparanya's U-turn on the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) also fueled talk of a possible defection.
If he defects to the DP's camp, he is expected to make them more formidable, adding support from vote-rich Western Province.
The Kakamega governor has been positioning himself to be in the next government, including applying to be ODM's flag bearer.
File image of Deputy President William Ruto and Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya. |Photo| Courtesy|
