Even as Amani National Congress (ANC) leader Musalia Mudavadi busies himself with countrywide campaigns for NASA presidential candidate Raila Odinga, Senator Moses Wetangula, a fellow pentagon member from Western region, has taken advantage to popularize his party at the expense of other NASA affiliates. On Monday, the Citizen weekly newspaper published a report, which showed that there still exists bad blood between the two leaders from Western, who have always competed against each other for the control of the vote-rich Luhya-land.The rivalry between the two go way back in 2013, when Mr Wetangula dismissed calls for Luhya unity by endorsing Raila Odinga of CORD for president, instead of Mudavadi. His party, Ford Kenya, was a key coalition member of the outfit, but was only given the minority leader position in the senate after losing the contest to Jubilee. When NASA officials were picking the presidential flag-bearer and his running mate, Wetangula’s representatives in the negotiating table refused to support the ambitions of their kinsman Mudavadi, opting to back Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka of Wiper party. That meant the ANC leader could only serve as the coalition’s campaign manager. The post has meant that Mudavadi accompanies Raila in the campaign trail all over the country, ahead of the August 8 elections. In the meantime, Wetangula, who is not as popular in Western, is taking advantage of the former vice president’s absence to campaign for his party’s candidates, who are facing strong opposition from ANC, according to a report in the Star. This move is likely to further heighten tensions between the two leaders, and eventually hurt Raila Odinga in his quest to become the president.

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