President William Ruto yesterday held a crisis meeting with the ruling United Democratic Alliance (UDA) National Executive Council (NEC) in bid to quell the ongoing tension within the party ranks.
Some of the agenda in yesterday’s meeting included the status of the ongoing grassroots elections with a view of changing strategy on whether to abandon the elections, to discuss the tenability of party Secretary General Cleopas Malala amid claims of causing divisions and micromanaging the party among other issues.
The meeting came at the backdrop of a petition seeking to remove Malala from office over claims of gross misconduct and gross violation of the provisions of the constitution and party constitution.
The petitioner Joseph Khalende, the advocate chairperson of the founding member’s association listed seven grounds for the ouster claimed Malala defied party leadership and interfered with the ongoing grassroots elections as spearheaded division and creating factions in the party.
“In the immediate and foremost interest to safeguard our Party from the ineptitude of an incompetent Secretary General who has resoundingly failed to orient himself to the ideals of the Party, we hereby petition the National Executive Committee to immediately suspend and expel Cleophas Malala,” it reads.
Malala said although his name was listed as the agenda of yesterday’s meeting, such a discussion, if it erupted, could not cause him worries as he knew he was holding a sensitive office with schemes and plots against each other.
“I have not seen the petition but I’m only hearing it through social media but I have nothing to worry about as I have discharged my mandate in a transparent manner. We have had former Presidents elected and their term ending and some of them are not alive today and I know that when my time to leave beckons, I will leave and another person will continue with the work but the party will remain,” he said.
On the agenda of reviewing the continued grassroots polls, Malala said there were options of abandoning the election exercise and embracing other ways of identifying the winner as outlined by the party’s by laws.
“There are claims that the ongoing grassroots polls are divisive and there are options that we should seek other ways of coming up with the winner. Our constitution allows us to either go to the ballot or embrace consensus to establish the winner and this will be discussed extensively,” he added.
The grassroots polls, especially those in Nairobi have caused divisions in the city with the ruling party supporters clashing between Governor Johnstone Sakaja and Embakasi North James Gakuya a move that party officials fear may break the party.
The Kenya Kwanza Parliamentary Group meeting which was supposed to be held yesterday after the NEC meeting was postponed to next week with Malala defending the move saying they needed to settle them in house issues.
“The Parliamentary Group brings together UDA affiliate parties and we felt we need to meet as the UDA family before meeting the larger nuclear family,” he said.
After yesterday’s meeting, another meeting is scheduled to be held to discuss the growing tiff between the President and his Deputy Rigathi Gachagua and how to remedy the situation.