Kisumu governor Jack Ranguma says he won’t mind joint ticket with Ruth Odinga in August elections.
Last week, Ms Odinga dropped out of the race citing failure to pay the Sh250,000 ODM fee demanded of female aspirants wishing to contest in the primaries.
Kisumu governor Jack Ranguma has said he may retain his deputy, Ruth Odinga, as running mate in the August polls, signalling a thawing of relationship between the two county bosses.
Mr Ranguma said Wednesday he would “not mind having her (Ms Odinga) as a running mate”.
The deputy governor had earlier indicated she would seek to oust her boss at the end of a four-year tenure marred by supremacy battles at the county’s Prosperity House headquarters.
Ms Odinga accused her boss of sidelining her in the management of country affairs, a claim Mr Ranguma rubbished as politics.
Last week, she dropped out of the race citing failure to pay the Sh250,000 ODM fee demanded of female aspirants wishing to contest in the primaries.
Mr Ranguma told journalists in Kisumu that Ms Odinga was yet to inform her of the decision to quit the race, but did not rule out a joint ticket with her.
“I have not received any indications from my deputy, Ruth, that she is not going to run. What I have been seeing are only in the press. She has not officially told me so,” said Mr Ranguma.
“Even though it will best to cross the bridge when we get there, Ruth still has an opportunity to run.”
With Ms Odinga out of the race, the governor is expected to battle it out with Kisumu Senator Anyang’ Nyong’o, businessman Hezron McObewa and others for the ODM ticket.
A survey by pollster Infotrak released last Friday gave Mr Ranguma a wide lead over his rivals, with 58.7 per cent of the respondents saying they would vote for him.
The poll, conducted between March 31 and April 2, placed Prof Nyong’o second at 8.7 per cent and Dr McObewa (6.8 per cent). Ms Odinga came a distant fourth with 0.3 per cent.
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Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
