Governor Isaac Ruto welcomes President Uhuru Kenyatta in Kericho. [Photo/ PSCU]
The defection of former Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto from NASA to the Jubilee Party may be the final nail in the coffin of Raila Odinga’s chances of winning the October 17 presidential contest. Governor Rutto, who said he had been lonely in the NASA camp, was Raila’s only hope in trying to make in-roads into vote-rich South Rift region, which is a Jubilee stronghold. The ODM leader has now lost of hope getting any vote from the former Rift Valley Province. "I felt lonely. I found myself alone and I have now decided to come back,” Rutto said at Kapkatet stadium in Kericho. The defection of the Chama Cha Mashinani (CCM) party boss, who served as the first chairman of the Council of Governors, consolidates Jubilee’s control of the more than 3 million Rift Valley votes.After announcing that he was supporting NASA’s Raila Odinga against President Kenyatta, Bomet County vowed to punish Governor Rutto. On August 8, they overwhelming voted for Jubilee’s Joyce Laboso to be the governor. This shocked Rutto, who expected to earn a second term.Analysts say that Rutto move may have been motivated by the realization that Raila stood no chance of beating President Kenyatta. To be in the next government, he had to join the winning team. In last month’s presidential elections, President Kenyatta defeated former Prime Minister Raila Odinga by more than 1.4 million votes, but errors by IEBC officials led to the Supreme Court to order for a repeat of the election. In the petition, Raila did not dispute President Kenyatta’s number of votes.