Is a Ruto-Raila coalition in the offing?

A day after Deputy President William Ruto defended former Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Secretary General, Ababu Namwamba, over remarks by his former party that he was a rebel, the opposition leader, Raila Odinga, has visited Bomet Governor, Isaac Ruto, who has equally been branded a rebel by members of his now dissolved United Republican Party (URP).

Odinga was hosted by Governor Ruto at his Bomet home, days after the Governor returned from South Africa where he had gone for treatment after allegedly being hit by a teargas canister lobbed at him by a police officer during a scuffle at the Silibwet Stadium where he was attending a football match.

Odinga said that he had planned to check on the governor’s recovery after his return from Some Africa.

The opposition Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) leader said that it is ‘very normal for like-minded leaders to meet and consult on various issues affecting the country’, a statement that maybe interpreted as a possible coalition between the two leaders brewing.

Odinga has previously been linked to possible coalition talks with Ruto who formed his own political outfit, the Mashinani Party of Kenya.

The former Prime Minister, however, declined to comment on the much-talked about National Super Alliance (NASA) that may bring together Odinga, Governor Ruto, and Amani National Congress (ANC) leader, Musalia Mudavadi among others.

“We are not here for politics but to look for a way forward of salvaging the country from the yoke of problems bedeviling it,” said Odinga.

The two condemned the Jubilee government for allegedly reversing the spirit of the constitutionalism on devolution.

They expressed disappointment with the government’s decision to retain a bulk of the national resources at the national level while 70 per cent of the functions have been devolved.

Odinga also accused the Jubilee administration of perpetrating graft likening corruption in the country to cancer which he said keeps growing every day.

His sentiments were echoed by Governor Ruto who said that the country is in bad shape and needs urgent surgery to remove the cancerous cells.

The meeting by the two leaders, despite being ‘purely personal’, might lead to some political re-organization in the larger Rift Valley region.