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Barely 252 days to next years general elections, allignments and counter alignments have taken center stage in Vihiga county.
Of great interest is the control of Vihiga county seats. With ODM boasting of the incumbent governor Hon Wilbur Otichilo, the orange party is keen on grabbing both the senate, women seat and then take the battle to the five subcounties where ANC is so far having an upperhand.
Www.goodmorningKenya.com has exclusively learnt of intrigues within Vihiga county aimed at controlling the county.
At the center of interest is Ford Kenya’s gubernatorial aspirant Mr Alex Kidake.
Mr Kidake has been making inroads in the vast Vihiga county as he seek to unseat ODM”s Wilbur Otichilo.
Sources privy to the dealings reveal that so far ANC has approached Mr Kidake requesting him to jump ship from Ford Kenya to ANC.
“Yes it is true we have approached Mr Alex Kidake to consider making his bid on ANC party. We all understand that both ANC and Ford Kenya are working together under OKA. It is therefore prudent to let Kidake present his bid on ANC party” ANC official said.
Kidake asked to jump ship from Ford Kenya to ANC.
The import of Kidake jumping to ANC has sent shivers down the spines of ANC aspirants.
“We welcome Kidake into ANC but just like any other aspirant, he should subject himself to nomination” an aspirant said.
It is being whispered that Mr Kidake has been holding meetings with ANC’s boss and other party officials. It is however not clear which position he may go for considering the ANC gubernatorial ticket is likely to go to Hon Agoi the Sabatia MP.
“ANC should just give Kidake the greenlight to vie for Sabatia MP seat. We believe with his resources, he can easily marshal enough numbers to clinch the seat” David Alumasa from Chavakali said.
ODM woos Kidake from Ford Kenya.
Even as ANC plots to seize controll of Vihiga,ODM too is not taking chances in their quest to regain controll.
Upon loosing their long term ally Mr Simekha to ANC, ODM has launched a charm offensive that has so far seen them win Winnie Majani from ANC to ODM.Winnie Majani is aspiring to unseat ANC’s Beatrice Adagala as woman rep.
With ODM having only one MP out of the five, the orange party is keen on wrestling more from ANC besides retaining the gubernatorial seat under Otichilo.
Will Otichilo /Kidake deliver for ODM?
Our sources have unearthed going on between ODM and Kidake. It is understood that ODM is prevailing upon Kidake to shelve his gubernatorial bid and instead deputize Otichilo to complete his second term.
Other than Kidake, others who have declared interest in the top county seat include Hon Agoi, Hon Khaniri, Hon Akaranga and Eng Amadi.
Whereas Kidake has his eyes fixed on Vihiga governorship, other political players in Vihiga allied to ODM want Kidake to run on the party ticket as Sabatia MP.
Vihiga county has reached political fever pitch as we approach 2022.
Senatorial contest is another very interesting position in Vihiga.
With ANC lining three aspirants Mr Simekha, Hon Jackson Swadi and Mr James Babira, the two will have to square it out with Hon Godfrey Osotsi who is expected to fly the ODM flag due to his closeness with proponents of Azimio la Umoja led by Raila Odinga.
Our efforts to have Mr Kidake comment on this proved futile as the politician chose not to address the matter instead giving us a snip preview of his December engagements.
“My team and I are currently engaged in several ground activities marketing my bid. On December 12 we shall be having a grand roadshow that will traverse the vast county. We are engaging the great people of Vihiga from all fronts” Kidake said.
