![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/d52f0442-6cf0-40cf-86b2-1a25c2c1c958.jpg\")
Bungoma governor and Ford Kenya deputy leader Kenneth Lusaka, Kakamega deputy governor Ayub Savula and Teso South MP Mary Emase during a presser at Golf hotel in Kakamega on Tuesday \/IMAGE \/HILTON OTENYO<\/p>\nBungoma governor and Ford Kenya deputy leader Kenneth Lusaka, Kakamega deputy governor Ayub Savula and Teso South MP Mary Emase during a presser at Golf hotel in Kakamega on Tuesday \/IMAGE \/HILTON OTENYO<\/p>\n
Leaders of the recently launched Broad-based
\nWestern for Ruto initiative have dismissed accusations by ODM that it is
\naiding UDA to carry out a hostile takeover of its networks.<\/p>\n
The lobby\u2019s deputy regional
\nco-ordinator Ayub Savula said claims by ODM deputy party leader Godfrey Osotsi
\nare untrue.<\/p>\n
He urged Osotsi to put his house in
\norder and convince ODM followers to stay.<\/p>\n
Savula said ODM members supporting
\nRuto\u2019s re-election are doing so on personal volition.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether one is in ODM or UDA, we
\nhave only one broad-based government presidential candidate and that is William
\nRuto,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe used to vote for Raila Odinga
\nas a bloc and we are transferring our support to William Ruto, now that Raila
\nis not here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Savula spoke at the burial service
\nof Josephine Makhulungu at Mukonge in Mautuma ward, Lugari constituency on
\nSaturday.<\/p>\n
He said elections are about
\ncompetition and not zoning. The deputy governor, who on Monday announced that
\nhe was done with DAP-K, said he is headed to UDA.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Osotsi accused UDA of
\norchestrating a covert and illegal takeover of ODM\u2019s grassroots networks in
\nWestern.<\/p>\n
He said some ODM legislators and
\nofficials in Vihiga and Kakamega counties have been attending UDA campaign and
\nelectoral strategy meetings under a non-existent co-operation agreement between
\nthe two parties.<\/p>\n
Osotsi said ODM members are being
\napproached to facilitate and participate in UDA grassroots elections, adding
\nthat UDA has gone further to form a regional presidential campaign caucus with
\nODM members.<\/p>\n
“This is a predatory,
\noperation aimed at weakening ODM at a vulnerable moment as the party
\nreorganises following the death of our former party leader Raila,\u201d Osotsi said.<\/p>\n
The Broad-based Western for Ruto\u2019s
\nRe-election initiative was unveiled in Kakamega on Monday last week.<\/p>\n
It will spearhead campaigns for
\nRuto\u2019s re-election across the vote-rich region by sensitising residents on the
\ngovernment\u2019s achievements.<\/p>\n
Bungoma Governor and Ford Kenya
\ndeputy leader Kenneth Lusaka heads it.<\/p>\n
Teso South MP Mary Emase is the
\nsecretary and Beatrice Adagala treasurer.<\/p>\n
MP Ernest Ogesi (Vihiga-UDA) will
\nco-ordinate the team\u2019s activities in Vihiga county, Fred Ikana (Shinyalu-UDA),
\nKakamega county, Kakai Bisau (Kiminini-ODM) Trans-Nzoia county, Emase (UDA)
\nBusia county) and Dan Wanyama (Webuye West -UDA) Bungoma county.<\/p>\n
Political analyst Prof Amukowa
\nAnangwe has said ODM is struggling to cope with the sudden death of Raila.<\/p>\n
Anangwe said factions that have
\nemerged in ODM are sympathetic of the tensions and competing political forces.<\/p>\n
\u201cDepending on how things play out,
\nODM may emerge weaker than it has been and may never recover, notwithstanding
\nthe self denial amongst its top leadership that is still hoping that nothing
\nhas changed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Anangwe said the games and
\nintrigues in ODM are likely to persist because the current situation in the
\nparty is a political nightmare for people who used to hang on Raila\u2019s coat for
\npolitical survival and are trying to find a footing.<\/p>\n
He said most ODM MPs could be
\npreparing to jump ship from the sinking party to UDA.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe general upshot is that things
\nwill never be the same for ODM again. The party is slowly dying,\u201d Anangwe said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bungoma governor and Ford Kenya deputy leader Kenneth Lusaka, Kakamega deputy governor Ayub Savula and Teso South MP…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[80,351,352,98,100,353,101,350,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-19955","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kenya","8":"tag-kenya","9":"tag-kenya-news","10":"tag-star","11":"tag-star-news","12":"tag-star-news-kenya","13":"tag-star-newspaper-kenya","14":"tag-the-star","15":"tag-the-star-kenya","16":"tag-the-star-newspaper"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}