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President-Elect William Ruto on Friday, August 19, 2022, welcomed Yakub Adow Kuno (MP-Elect, Bura Constituency, UPIA Party) and Abdi Ali Abdi (MP-Elect Ijara, National Agenda Party of Kenya) to his Kenya Kwanza coalition.

We welcome Yakub Adow Kuno (MP elect, Bura Constituency, UPIA Party) and Abdi Ali Abdi (MP-elect Ijara, National Agenda Party of Kenya) to the Kenya Kwanza team. Let us serve the people and move Kenya forward. pic.twitter.com/8OoPvePjqi

— William Samoei Ruto, PhD (@WilliamsRuto) August 19, 2022

The outgoing Deputy President has in the past few days received defectors from the Azimio One Kenya Alliance and leaders elected as Independents.

Ruto recently received 12 United Democratic Movement (UDM) elected leaders who ditched Raila’s Azimio coalition for his Kenya Kwanza Alliance.

Meru Governor-Elect Kawira Mwangaza, who was elected as an Independent candidate, also joined Ruto’s ship.

Azimio accuses Ruto of wooing leaders illegally to join his camp

In a press release sent to newsrooms, Raila Odinga Campaign Secretariat spokesperson Makau Mutua stated that Ruto is currently wooing leaders elected as Independents and on the Azimio Coalition to defect to his political formation.

The defections, he says, are a rebirth of retrogressive political strategies that were employed by the late President Daniel Moi to achieve a majority in Parliament.

“This is the practice that was used in the KANU era to defeat the independence of the legislature and retard the growth of multiparty democracy,” the press release read in part.

Mutua averred that Ruto’s moves are in vain since there are clearly set out rules and conditions that guide defection from coalition parties.