The Deputy President was not hosted at the White House but that did not stop his communications and media team hinting again on Twitter that Ruto and his ally and likely running mate Amani National Congress leader Musalia Mudavadi led a delegation to the White House for a closed-door meeting where a strategic partnership between the US and Kenya was discussed...

Musalia Mudavadi leader of the Amani National Congress leader and key Ruto ally is accompanying the Deputy President...

That puts pressure on the OKA which groups together the Amani National Congress led by Musalia Mudavadi; Kalonzo Musyoka's Wiper party; the Kenya African National Union of Gideon Moi; and Moses Wetangula's Ford Kenya...

The bill also seeks a six-month prior-to-elections deadline for smaller parties such as those of Amani National Congress leader Musalia Mudavadi and Wiper's Kalonzo Musyoka to declare officially and irrevocably whose presidential ticket they will support...

Amani National Congress leader Musalia Mudavadi sent apologies for his absence – his step-mother's body was arriving for burial from the United States on the day – while the Wiper party's Kalonzo Musyoka was conveniently in South Sudan...

After merging Jubilee and ODM Kenyatta had planned to bring the leaders of the smaller parties – Musalia Mudavadi Kalonzo Musyoka Gideon Moi and Moses Wetangula – into a wider coalition for an Odinga presidency that would stop the Ruto juggernaut (AC Vol 62 No 21 Raila beats Ruto as the oligarchs' favourite & Vol 62 No 23 Cash takes on the kingpins)...

In an opinion poll released on 19 November by the TIFA market research agency in Nairobi Ruto was leading with 38% over the other three contenders: Raila Odinga (23%) Musalia Mudavadi (2%) Kalonzo Musyoka (1%)...

All of them have their presidential ambitions and reasons to distrust Odinga: Ford Kenya's Moses Wetangula Amani National Congress's Musalia Mudavadi and the Wiper party's Kalonzo Musyoka joined by Kenya African National Union chairman Gideon Moi...