Malindi Member of Parliament Aisha Jumwa, who has defected from ODM party to join the Deputy President William Ruto side of Jubilee Party held a private meeting with the party leader Raila Odinga on Tuesday.
Asked if Jumwa attended the Parliamentary Group (PG) meeting chaired by Raila, a member said: “She did not attend the meeting but waited for Mzee in her office where they held lengthy talks.”
When asked to respond about her latest move, Jumwa refuted claims that she had decamped from the Jubilee Party side.
Jumwa said she was seated in her commission office when Raila walked in accompanied by Minority Whip Junet Mohammed.
“As I walked him out, he asked me to take a picture with Okoth who was standing outside. I obliged and that was that,” said Jumwa who added that she had cautioned an ODM blogger against spreading the rumours.
Over the weekend Ruto, in a veiled attack at Raila saying Kibra Constituency was wallowing in abject poverty and that it needed a pragmatic leader to turn its fortunes around.
“I was shocked when an individual laid claim that Kibra is their political bedroom and the region did not even have toilets and locals are grappling with dire sanitation challenges. It is the Jubilee government that built roads and public toilets in Kibra,” said Ruto in Kapseret.
The DP said he would lead campaigns that would see the party pitch camp in Kibra and ensure their candidate, McDonald Mariga, delivers the parliamentary seat.
But today, Raila rallied the MPs to set aside any other business ahead and campaign for the party candidate.
“We need to put the interests of the party ahead. We need to show our opponents that we are a strong and organized party,” Raila is said to have told the Mps.
Apart from Mariga and Okoth others seen as formidable candidates include, Eliud Owallo (ANC) and Khamisi Butichi of Ford Kenya.
The by-election has also proven to be a testing group for the NASA affiliate parties after following the decision to field candidates and Wiper Party resolution to back the Ford Kenya candidate.