Amani National Congress (ANC) boss Musalia Mudavadi's aide Kibisu Kabatesi has poked holes into Deputy President William Ruto's attempts to take over his Western Kenya bedrock.
The DP has been trying to make inroads into the populous region lately, including making countless trips in the five Western Kenya counties, with the latest planned for today.
While his allies led by former Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale are saying that proper plans are in place, Kabatesi, Mudavadi's Private Secretary, says that the DP is not making any progress.
He on Saturday said that the plan, especially Ruto's Saturday trip of Vihiga, is to provoke the former Deputy Prime Minister into retaliating, which will not succeed.
He said that the visit targeting a women's function in Sabatia will only benefit the persons behind the invitation and not the locals, and will therefore not divert Mudavadi's plans.
Kabatesi said that they have been deployed to attempt and bring the entire region on board to support Ruto's 2022 presidential bid, and are treating Mudavadi as an opponent.
"Our strategy involves raiding the opponent’s camps in the region to win support. We are keen to work with them so that we have a formidable team backing the DP in western," he told the Nation.
Area leaders who have remained solidly on Mudavadi's side are Sabatia MP Alfred Agoi, Vihiga lawmaker Earnest Ogesi, Senator George Khaniri and Woman Rep Beatrice Adagala.
The fight has everything to do with the fact that Mudavadi too has declared presidential intentions in the same race, and has proved unwilling to join the DP who is after the Luhya vote anyway.