Kisii Senator Chris Obure will ditch ODM for Jubilee after members of his community said they want to be in government.
Obure said after consulting widely with the people, he has no option but to obey their wishes.
Speaking at Nyansira Secondary School in Nyaribari Chache, Obure said the community has taken a new direction politically and he does not want to be out in the cold come 2017.
“In 2007 we tried and failed. The same thing happened in 2013. I do not want it to happen again in 2017. That is why I am telling you we should support Jubilee," he said at a funds drive on Friday where Deputy President William Ruto was in attendance.
Obure chairs the Kisii unity talks and he said the community wants to go to the August 8, 2017 general election united.
“Let us have our votes in one basket. That is when we shall have bargaining power. We do not want to continue backing the opposition,” he said as quoted by the Star.
Ruto welcomed Obure saying they were together in ODM. This is in a move by Jubilee to lock out Cord from the Gusii vote next year.
Others at the event were Kisii Deputy Governor Joash Maangi, former Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution chair Charles Nyachae and MPs Zebedeo Opore, Richard Tong’i, Jimmy Angwenyi and Joel Onyancha.