The friendship between Migori Governor and Deputy President William Ruto is not something that began recently. It has always been there for over a decade now.
The friendship of the two began when Ruto was the minister of Agriculture in the grand-coalition government while Obado was the chairman of the Kenya Sugar Board (KSB).
It all started when Obado was vying for the KBS’s chairmanship position. At the time, the relationship between William Ruto and his boss in the ministry, Raila Odinga has started to deteriorate.
In the race to clinch the top seat at the sugar board, Ruto backed Obado for the seat while Raila chose Saulo Busolo, Webuye’s former MP. In the race, Obado won.
After beating Raila’s man for the seat, the friendship between Obado and Ruto blossomed. When Obado showed his interest to run for the Migori Governship post, Raila refused to support him. Ruto on the other side backed Obado for the county’s top seat.
Obado was denied the ODM ticket to run for the governorship post in 2013. He opted to run with PDP, an affiliate party in the Jubilee coalition, a move that irked many ODM insiders.
In the run to the 2013 elections, Obado orchestrated a door-to-door campaign as he exploited the influence he had accrued while he was the chair of the sugar board. In the elections, Obado ended up beating ODM candidate Edward Akongo Oyugi – an old ally and advisor of Raila.
Other than in the elections, Ruto has always stood with Obado. He has always shown him support even in his recent troubles in ODM.
The friendship between Obado and Ruto has caused mistrust between the governor and the ODM members who accuse him of being a mole in the party.
Recently Obado skipped Raila’s ODM meetings hosted in Homa/Bay county before he officially decamped to PDP – a party he won his first elections. Once again, DP Ruto’s name has been featured in Obado’s move to decamp from ODM.
Those close to Raila claimed that Obado’s move to leave ODM is being sponsored by DP Ruto to derail his State House bid.
