As the ruling United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party is set to hold Constituency elections today ahead of the county elections which will be held on June 8, it has emerged how candidates are splashing millions of money while pampering delegates at posh hotels.
The contest is a do or die affair to the MPs who want to contest for the county chairmanship in the five counties while governors have planted candidates against MPs to deny them a chance of facing them off during the county elections.
Cabinet Secretaries and Principal Secretaries have also cashed in to have their cronies win the party positions to secure their political interests in the 2027 elections. The delegates, who have the final say on the 143 contestants in the final Counties, are smiling all the way to the bank as they hold the key to candidates’ future political ambitions.
The delegates have been hosted in various hotels and some of them have pocketed the down payments with clear instructions that after voting, they are required to take photos of the candidates to vote before retreating back to hotels to pick the balance.
But the party’s National Election Board (NEB) chairperson Antony Mwaura said that the party is wielding the big stick on the errant big boys saying a PS and a sitting governor are among the 16 people who include Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) who are on the ladder of the party’s disciplinary committee with far reaching consequences such as being deregistered form the party and losing their State jobs.
“We have liaised with the party leader, President William Ruto who wants the process to be above board, if the Ps is found guilty of engaging in violence during the Ward elections she will lose her State job because in the first place, she was not allowed to be near where the polling was being done due to the nature of her job,” Mwaura said.
The said Ps is said to have clashed with the supporters of another Cabinet Secretary who is also seeking to control the outcome of the constituency elections due to future political aspirations with Mwaura explaining that out of the 20 candidates who will be elected in every county, seven will form part of the National Delegates Conference (NDC) who will meet on November this year to vote for the party’s national leadership.
“In every County, seven out of the 20 officials will become the county’s chairperson, secretary, Treasurer, Organizing Secretary, Representatives of People living with disabilities Women and Youth and will automatically become members of the NDC which explains why the stake is high in the Constituency elections,” Mwaura added.
To illustrate the high stakes by the interested individuals, Mwaura admitted that there have been cases of bribery especially by sitting governors who were accused to briber the party’s secretariat who were expected to preside over the elections but with the party getting wind of the matter, they decided to bring new faces who oversaw the Ward elections.
“The new people did not understand the terrain conducting the polls and this led to an insignificant number of petitions. In Narok North, some dissatisfied people got injections from the Political Parties Tribunal and stopped the elections and the case is ongoing. In Busia we have struck out four candidates who were to contest for the Constituency polls after they engaged in malpractice. A sitting MCA in West Pokot County had his name removed from the list of contestants and due to the transparency of the polls, a record of 15 MCAs did not get the positions they were contesting for,” said Mwaura.
In Nairobi, the contest is between governor Johnstone Sakaja and Embakasi North Mp James Gakuya who is facing opposition from three other candidates. Gakuya’s allies; MPs John Karie alias KJ (Dagoretti North) has four rivals seeking to be the Constituency chairperson while Benjamin Gathiru alias Major Donk is also facing opposition from three constituents.
In Narok, Narok West MP Gabriel Tongoyo has staged a face off against Governor Patrick Ntutu for the county chairmanship while MPs Ken Aramat (Narok East) and Johanna Ng’eno (Emurr Dikkir) are battling for the county secretary-general position where they are required to win in their constituencies to qualify to contest the county-level position.
In West Pokot, Kapenguria MP Samuel Moroto will face Jackson Rotino and Mzelondo Plimo for the UDA county secretary position if the three succeed in Constituency polls while Governor Simon Kachapin will face Senator Julius Murgor for the county UDA chairmanship seat.
Nairobi has 1,700 delegates from the 17 Constituencies while Homa Bay has 800 from eight constituencies, Busia 700 from seven constituencies, Narok 600 from six constituencies and West Pokot 400 from four constituencies.
After the conclusion of the Constituency elections today, phase two of the party polls for 13 counties will ensue on June 27 where it will be conducted in schools.