A section of allies of Deputy President William Ruto have thrown their weight behind a new bid to give presidential poll losers a soft landing by bringing them into the Parliament.
According to the Ndaragua MP Jeremiah Kioni sponsored bill, the presidential contestant who becomes second, alongside their running mate, will be nominated to one of the two houses.
The same has been lauded by Mumias East MP Benjamin Washiali, a close ally of the DP, who said that the bill if passed, will keep the pair relevant even after losing the race.
"How do we let a leader of a party just disappear into oblivion after losing an election?" the National Assembly Majority Whip told the Star.
A similar stand is shared by Majority Leader Aden Duale, who added that the proposal is close to what he has been pushing for; inclusion of the leader of opposition in parliament.
He is of the idea that people who garnered millions of votes in a presidential poll cannot just be discarded after the election, adding that there is also a need for changes to constitutionally recognize the leader of the opposition.
"We cannot have a presidential candidate and his running mate with close to six million voters going home like mama mboga after they lose an election,” the Garissa Township lawmaker told the paper.
However, ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna poked holes into the bill, terming it a plot to shift attention from the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), led by the party leader Raila Odinga.
Also led by President Uhuru Kenyatta, allies of Raila have been hopeful that it will expand the executive for inclusion, with Sifuna saying Kioni's proposals will not achieve that.