Former Knut secretary general Wilson Sossion has expressed interest in the Bomet senatorial seat next year.
Sossion, who has already kicked off his campaigns in earnest, will be seeking to unseat Senator Christopher Langat.
Also in the race is Nairobi-based lawyer Hillary Sigei who is also slowly making overtures in the grassroots as he seeks to market himself in the not-so familiar territory.
When reached for a comment, Sossion confirmed that he is in the race but remained noncommittal on revealing the party on whose ticket he will run.
“I am in the race, that is a fact. The issue of party will be determined later. As you know, I am a Member of Parliament fully nominated by ODM and so for now I am doing my work as an ODM MP,” he said.
He added, “Parliament has not been dissolved to facilitate the transfer and or window of change of political parties. It is not yet time for that, in fact the Deputy President who is in Jubilee has not announced he has decamped to UDA.”
Among the agendas the unionist is advancing is education.
While speaking during a function recently, Sossion said he has been approached by the residents to run for the seat.
“I have gone round and the people have asked me to run for this seat so that I can continue advancing issues affecting teachers of this country and also ensure more resources are sent to the counties,” he said.
He will, however, be facing an arduous task to popularise himself and his ODM party considering the area is predominantly a ‘hustler’ region.
Most of the current legislators from the Rift Valley elected on the Jubilee Party have already defected to the newly formed United Democratic Alliance of Deputy President William Ruto.
There has been a great rush among these politicians to impose themselves as the favourites for the various elective seats to the chagrin of the newcomers who are keen on unseating them from their positions over alleged failed promises.
This has caused fear among the new entrants who believe they might be rigged out.
Sossion has on several occasions stated that he is a life member of the ODM party and that he pays full allegiance to the party leader Raila Odinga.
It remains to be seen if he will decamp to UDA and square it out with the two other candidates – Sigei and Langat – in the run up to the election.
With only eight months to the party primaries as announced by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, Sossion, who has been crisscrossing the region selling his agenda, has in most occasions been challenged by the electorate to disclose the party he will be running on.
