Scramble for appointments! Ex-governor James Ong’wae ditches Raila for Ruto
The former Kisii County Governor James Ong’wae has ditched the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Coalition party for the Kenya Kwanza Alliance team.
Sources close to the former governor say that he is expected to meet with the President-elect any time.
Mr Ong’wae served as Kisii governor for two terms as ODM member, and supported his successor Governor Simba Arati who is from Azimio coalition.
The move comes days after the Supreme Court upheld the win of the President-elect Dr William Ruto as the 5th President of Kenya.
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His step has been alleged to be a strategy to bag an appointment in a government position as he joins the race to get a share of Kenya Kwanza cake.
Ong’wae, who was a staunch supporter of the ODM party leader Raila Odinga is now among the politicians seeking to be associated with Dr Ruto as he plans to form the government.
Until his last leadership, Mr Ong’wae was an ODM party member and was blamed by his then deputy Joash Maangi for frustrating him.
Maangi had claimed that the former governor was behind his dark days in Kisii for associating himself with Dr Ruto.
At one point, Maangi claimed that his life was in danger and that his security details had been withdrawn without any information.
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Kisii County was among the strongholds of Mr Odinga in the concluded election, where he garnered 265,078 votes (65.80 percent) out of 637,111 registered voters.
Dr Ruto gained 135,326 votes, which 33. 59 percent only.
In Nyamira, the Azimio leader got 129,025 votes out of 323,283 registered voters, while Dr Ruto garnered 78,356 votes.
This also comes days before the swearing in of Dr Ruto and his deputy Rigathi Gachagua.
After taking the oath of office, Dr Ruto is expected to name his cabinet and make appointments after to government positions.
Also, the former governor was closely working with the Interior Cabinet secretary Fred Matiang’i, who was a greatest critic of Dr Ruto.
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