With less than four months remaining before the next general polls in August, the mystery surrounding the region where Deputy President William Ruto will pick his running mate seems to have already been settled.
This is after reports leaked on the alleged agreements reached between Ruto and his two counterparts Musalia Mudavadi of ANC and Moses Wetangula of Ford Kenya Party if the Kenya Kwanza coalition wins the August polls.
According to an NTV report, the DP and his friends could be edging close to a power-sharing deal after a Draft Proposal accessed by the station recommended that Ruto be named as the coalition's flagbearer and nominates his running mate from the Mt Kenya region.
The proposed document drafted by Kenya Kwanza Technical Committee also proposed that 40% of the government jobs and appointments be preserved for the Western Kenya region and to be shared between Musalia Mudavadi and Moses Wetangula.
Ruto's UDA party will get the remaining 60% of the government positions, which will be shared among all the other regions if the coalition wins the August 9, general elections.
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The proposals were presented to the coalition by three Technical Committee representatives, Kithure Kindiki (UDA) Dan Ameyo (ANC), and Benson Milimo (Ford Kenya)
According to the committee, by picking his deputy from Mt Kenya, Ruto will get a better chance to secure good votes from a region of about 5.8 million votes. The same formula if approved by their principals, will also be applied in sharing of funds in developmental regions and informative actions.
The same was echoed by Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala on Tuesday when he was speaking at the Lugari Constituency ANC delegates conference.
Malala said they had already agreed to have Ruto as their presidential candidate and struck a deal with the DP that will see the region benefit immensely from Ruto's presidency.
"We want you to rally behind Ruto because he has promised us shares in his government. We have sat down and agree that 30% of the government will go to Western Kenya people. He also told us that out of 21 Cabinet Secretaries, he will give us 7. He will give us 13 PSs, 15 CASs, and 185 Heads of Parastatals" stated Malala in Lugari
Already, Azimio-One Kenya Alliance has deposited its agreements with the registrar of political parties after they officially signed the deal recently. The deadline for deposition of coalition agreements is on Saturday 9th of April.