By OTIENO OTIENO

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Party coalitions for Kenya’s 2022 elections have up to February 9 to get clearance from the registrar of political parties, setting the stage for frantic realignments in the coming days.

On Thursday, Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta assented to an amended law that allows coalitions to operate as legal entities and requires them to formalise their agreements at least six months before a General Election.

The enactment of the Political Parties (Amendment) Act ended weeks of resistance by legislators allied to Deputy President William Ruto, who earlier mounted a filibuster in the National Assembly to try to block its enforcement by the February 9 deadline.

Mr Ruto, who has fallen out with President Kenyatta and is contesting for the top seat as an anti-establishment candidate, claimed the law was part of a scheme by the president to manage his succession.

But Mr Ruto has been seen to cool his opposition to the law in recent days after a second defeat in the Senate, where the Handshake alliance of President Kenyatta and Mr Odinga enjoys a bigger majority.

President Kenyatta is backing Mr Odinga’s presidential bid under the Azimio La Umoja Movement, a coalition that brings together the ODM party, the ruling Jubilee party and other fringe parties.

Mr Odinga expects the coalition to get the registrar’s clearance by next week, paving the way for a more intense campaign for an election that has been billed as a two-horse race between him and Mr Ruto.

Third horse?

A third coalition, the One Kenya Alliance (OKA), has seen the walkout by former vice-president Musalia Mudavadi and Bungoma Senator Moses Wetangula to team up with the Deputy President.

But OKA is still said to retain a chance of swaying the outcome of the August 9 election if it chooses to back former vice-president Kalonzo Musyoka’s candidacy or throw its weight behind any of the two front runners.

Mr Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA) is negotiating a coalition deal with Amani National Congress (ANC) of Mr Mudavadi, and Ford Kenya led by Mr Wetangula.

Mr Mudavadi and Mr Wetangula backed Mr Odinga’s presidential bid in the 2017 election under the National Super Alliance coalition, but fell out with him last year over the sharing of funds allocated to political parties and a disputed MoU.

The Ruto-Mudavadi-Wetangula triumvirate is believed to have reserved Kenya Kwanza Alliance as the coalition name before the announcement of their “friendship” at ANC’s national delegates conference on January 23.

They addressed a third joint campaign meeting on Friday in western Kenya, where ANC and Ford Kenya enjoy a sizeable following.

Mr Ruto is banking on Mr Mudavadi’s and Mr Wetangula’s influence to gain a foothold in the area that has mostly voted for Mr Odinga in the past three general elections.

But the deputy president will be concerned about the reception of the new coalition among the duo’s supporters, and the fallout it has triggered in their individual parties.

About half of ANC’s 14 MPs have shifted their loyalty to Mr Odinga, and the new Democratic Action Party–Kenya (DAP-K) is chipping away at Ford Kenya’s support in parts of its traditional base.

A bigger issue for Mr Ruto in the coming weeks could be how to accommodate the ambitions of Mr Mudavadi and Mr Wetangúla in the coalition without upsetting his allies from central Kenya, who believe they are entitled to a bigger stake in his candidacy, including the position of running mate.