The greatest hurdle Deputy President William Ruto has to overcome in 2017 campaigns in the Rift Valley is Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto.
The DP has been forced to use all tactics to woo his once old friend to join his camp but all have fallen on deaf ears.
Coercion and hard line stands by the DP have yielded no fruits and this has left the DP pondering his next move to have the whole of Rift Valley voting block under his wing.
The Governor for Bomet has lately been criticizing all the advances made by the DP and most people keep wondering what happened between the two old buddies who were under one party, the United Republican Party (URP), a vehicle that sponsored Isaac Ruto to Bomet gubernatorial seat.
However, Isaac Ruto has thrown his friendship to DP Ruto under the bus. The two today rarely agree on basic, important development projects aimed for Bomet.
The two have also reduced eye to eye communication making it clear that in 2017, the two may decide on different political courses altogether.
The Bomet governor has even went ahead to come up with his own party which he says will be a threat to DP William Ruto's URP party that joined the Jubilee alliance.
The Bomet Governor has come up with Chama Cha Mashinani - Kenya (CCM-Kenya) and that the party is going to set a hell tone for the DP in Rift Valley.
As time quickly ticks towards the 2017 elections, it is clear that if the DP fails to have come up with a solution to his stalemate with his namesake, then it will be hard time for him to woo the Rift Valley votes.
This will mean that the alliance that he joined in 2013, Jubilee alliance, will fail to get the maximum support from the area branded as a Jubilee zone.
This will be worsened by the division being created by another Rift Valley leader, Baringo Senator Gideon Moi.