Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

Azimio-One Kenya presidential candidate Raila Odinga is banking on five women to advance his candidature in the Rift Valley, an enemy territory where his rival Deputy President William enjoys higher following.

The two leading presidential aspirants are engaged in an intense fight for women support nationally and are looking to outdo each other in the search for millions of their votes.

While Raila picked Martha Karua as his running-mate, Ruto has promised women 50 percent of cabinet positions in yet another attempt to advance their role in governance.

In the Rift Valley, however, the two leading presidential contestants have chosen women of different shades to advance their causes.

While Raila is relying on older and experienced women to do his political bidding, the DP, who hails from the area, has opted for newer faces as he aims at stamping his authority on his stronghold.

The Azimio leader has identified five women who he has brushed shoulders with before although they had parted ways at some point in the last two decades.

Led by former Agriculture Minister Sally Kosgei , the women politicians have cast their lot on Raila being the country’s next president catching the attention of other Azimio leaders who are now banking on them to promote his bid in the area.

Others are Senate Deputy Speaker Margaret Kamar, Gender CAS Jebii Kilimo, former Senator Zipporah Kittony and veteran politician Tabitha Seii.

Kosgey is a senior politician from the region and has been chosen to lead them owing to her experience in politics.

Before joining politics in 2007 when she was elected Aldai MP, Sally served in senior positions in late President Daniel Moi’s administration, the last being Head of Public Service in 2002.

She has asked Rift residents to consider voting for Raila saying he had no grudge against the region.

“When we worked with him during the grand-coalition government he gave us eight cabinet slots. I don’t have any doubts at all that when he gets the presidential seat, Rift Valley will be in that government and we will be happy and comfortable,” said Sally.

During the grand-coalition government formed after the 2007 post-election violence, Raila, then a Prime Minister and co-principal in the administration with late President Kibaki, appointed Sally as Higher Education Cabinet Minister before transferring her to the Agriculture docket. She replaced Ruto at Agriculture after he was controversially ousted from the ministry in 2010.

Prof Kamar, one of the three women elected to the Senate in 2017, was co-opted in the Azimio campaigns after opting out of elective contest this year. The Uasin Gishu senator is not defending her seat but is considered an influential figure in her home county. She also served as Eldoret East MP between 2007 and 2013. In 2020, she became the first woman to serve as Senate deputy speaker. Kamar was one of the beneficiaries of the 2018 Handshake between Raila and President Uhuru Kenyatta that saw major political realignment following the ousting of Ruto’s allies from senior positions in Parliament. She replaced Tharaka Nithi Senator Kithure Kindiki, a key Ruto ally.

It is not the first time she is throwing her weight behind Raila as she was with the ODM leader in 2013 when she sought her county governorship on the party. She lost to Jackson Mandago then of United Republican Party.

Among the five, Seii has been in politics for the longest time. She attempted to run for Keiyo South MP seat against the late Nicholas Biwott in 1983 but lost. In 1997, she was nominated to Parliament by Democratic Party then led by Mwai Kibaki.

When Kibaki became president five years later, he picked her as Kenya’s High Commissioner to South Africa.  Kilimo was first elected to Parliament in 2003 through the Narc party. She was the first woman to represent Marakwet East constituency and held the seat until 2013. “Raila will form the next government, we want all of us to support him so we are not left out,” said Seii when Raila campaigned in Iten.

For Ruto, he is banking on fresher women to promote his bid in a region he enjoys a higher following as per the recent opinion polls. They are led by Uasin Gishu Woman Representative Gladys Shollei who have stuck with the DP since 2018 when he was ousted from government.

In her camp are Narok counterpart Soipan Tuiya, Nakuru Senator Susan Kihika, Woman Representatives Joyce Korir (Bomet) and Lillian Tomitom (West Pokot) among others.