A political party that sources say is linked to former Senator Bonny Khalwale and Trans Nzoia governor George Natembeya (pictured above, right and left respectively) is set to be unveiled soon, complicating President William Ruto’s efforts to lock the populous Luhya community vote as he seeks a second term in office.
The party reportedly had the support of the late legislator and former cabinet minister Cyrus Jirongo who died in a car crash in December. The new party, said to be undergoing registration formalities, is set to rock Western Kenya politics, given the influential role of both Khalwale and Natembeya in the region. We are yet to confirm at what stage of registration the party is currently at.
An opinion poll by Infotrak published in January ranked Natembeya as the most influential political leader in the Luhya community. He polled 50% ahead of Prime Cabinet Secretary, Musalia Mudavadi, the seniormost Luhya leader in Ruto’s government, at 32% and National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula at 29%.
Natembeya has been at loggerheads with former defence minister Eugene Wamalwa, now a key opposition figure, over control of the Democratic Action Party (DAP) Kenya. Natembeya, Wamalwa and Wetang’ula all hail from the Bukusu sub-community which has majority of the voters in Western Kenya.
Khalwale, a vocal politician on the national stage, was previously in President Ruto’s camp but switched to the opposition over what sources say were differences over political strategy in Western Kenya.
The new party could also directly challenge the supremacy of Mudavadi and Wetang’ula in Luhya politics, destabilising the government’s political influence in the key voting bloc.
The head of state is banking on the 3.5 million-plus votes in the region to get re-elected especially after losing significant support from the Gikuyu, Embu and Meru (GEMA) communities in central Kenya, where he secured 47% of his total vote tally to win the presidency in 2022.
Losing a significant chunk of Western Kenya will likely further complicate Ruto’s re-election bid, in a region that has traditionally supported the late prime minister Raila Odinga -who died in October- in the last four presidential elections.