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Kenya: Aspirants Jostle for Uda Tickets Ahead of 2022 Polls

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4 years ago

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A storm is brewing within the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), pitting incumbents and aspirants eyeing the same seats ahead of the 2022 General Election.

At the centre of the tussle is an alleged scheme to lock out strong aspirants from various seats being eyed by the party’s bigwigs.

According to a source within UDA’s secretariat who declined to be named for fear of reprisals, the party associated with Deputy President William Ruto is being driven by sitting lawmakers, who are jostling for party positions in order to guarantee them nomination certificates.

The source claimed the MPs have put their loyalists to be constituency and ward coordinators in order to use them to gain contacts from the public and create grassroots networks. The coordinators are being accused of frustrating aspirants in different counties.

Even though the party’s leadership has been assuring members that they will conduct party grassroots elections, according to the source, all indications are that UDA officials might eventually be people proposed by sitting legislators through boardroom deals, using their closeness to the DP and the party secretariat.

Frustrating competitors

The source claimed that most of the current MPs have been frustrating their competitors by making sure the aspirants do not meet and when they attempt to, the legislators allegedly use their influence to send police to scuttle the meetings.

“So far, the party secretariat has been crisscrossing the country assuring aspirants that the nominations will be free and fair but that just sounds good on paper; how the party achieves this remains to be a mystery,” said the source.