Kenyan Presidential insider named running mate to DP William Ruto ticket
Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto, has picked former administration insider, Rigathi Gachagua, to become his presumptive Deputy President should be emerge victorious in the 9 August 2022 Presidential elections.
Ruto made the announcement about his running mate on Sunday, hours to Monday's deadline issued by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
Ruto is running on the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), a party which he created after politically falling out with President Uhuru Kenyatta's Jubilee Party.
Ruto's Party is part of a coalition named Kenya "Kwanza," or Kenya "Foremost" which has its political strongholds in Ruto's vast Rift Valley region and President Uhuru Kenyatta's Central Kenya region.
Gachagua is an administrative officer who has held various positions in the Kenyan government, including the post of Personal assist to the Head of the Civil Service.
He served as an administrative officer in various districts in Kenya's western region, in Central Kenya, in the 1990s.
Gachagua is a political scientist who was serving his first term as a member of parliament. His political creativity saw him stealthily move to consolidate the Central Kenya political yard behind Ruto.
President Uhuru Kenyatta, who is backing long-time opposition leader Raila Odinga, who is running on the Azimio la Umoja ticket, a political coalition bringing together 26 political parties, is getting started in the 2022 electoral race behind his Deputy in his political Kenya backyard.
Odinga has his political strongholds in Western Kenya, Nairobi, the coastal region and parts of the Eastern region.
-0- PANA AO/VAO 15May2022
