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UDA presidential candidate William Ruto (left) and his Azimio competitor Raila Odinga (right)/CFM

AUGUST 9 COUNTDOWN

Ruto, Raila take presidential campaigns to populous Mt Kenya region

NAIROBI, Kenya Jan 29 — Deputy President William Ruto and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga were on Saturday set to tour the Mount Kenya region as the August State House race intensifies.

The Mount Kenya region which has close to six million voters has been the center of attraction for the duo who are considered to be the two presidential front-runners in the August 9 poll.

DP Ruto will be in Kirinyaga County where he will be popularizing the Kenya Kwanza Coalition that coalesces around Amani National Congress (ANC) Party Leader Musalia Mudavadi and FORD-Kenya Party Leader Moses Wetangula.

He will be hosted by Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru who ditched Odinga’s camp days after the Court of Appeal upheld the invalidation of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) constitution review clamour championed by the ODM leader.

Governor Waiguru on Thursday protested what she termed as a move by the national government to deny her a permit for the Wang’uru stadium where DP Ruto was expected to hold a rally.

“We are very shocked as leaders in Kirinyaga County having been denied permit to hold a rally for the Deputy President in Wang’uru stadium. PS Kibicho has been using it for public meetings, when we decided to ask it to be used by the DP, they decided to tell us that it was not complete,” she stated.

Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader will be at Ihura stadium in Murunga where he will be on charm offensive to woo the electorate to support his Azimio La Umoja Movement.

Odinga has also in recent days intensified his forays in the region where he is hoping to get a slice of the vote rich region.

Already a sizeable number of leaders from the region notably Governors have backed his presidential bid; a significant milestone that the African Union envoy on infrastructure is confident will catapult him to the presidency as he attempts his fifth stab.

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Odinga’s return to the region is indicative of his resolve to have the electorate who scuttled his bids in 2007, 2013 and 2017 vote for him.

President Uhuru Kenyatta is has been rooting for Odinga after he severed ties with his deputy Ruto after an acrimonious fallout in the governing Jubilee Party which culminated in the Deputy President who is also Deputy Party leader being declared persona non grata.

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