State House fails to resolve UDA candidate for Malava impasse

A meeting chaired by President William Ruto in State House, Nairobi, failed to settle on a United Democratic Alliance (UDA) candidate for the November 27 Malava by-election.

Multiple sources indicate that all five UDA aspirants were invited to a 15-minute meeting with the President on Monday to pick a candidate through consensus.

“The President came to the meeting in the State House, thinking we had agreed on the candidate to fly the party ticket. He was very upset to realise we had not agreed,” said one of the aspirants.

The aspirants said the President told them that he had a special attachment to the people of Malava and the late MP Malulu Injend, and would not allow the opposition to win the seat.

The Malava by-election is proving to be an epic battle between UDA and the opposition, led by former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua. The seat fell vacant following the death of Injendi.

UDA is now preparing for its primaries today after the President failed to persuade the five aspirants to agree on a single candidate to fly the ticket through consensus. 

In the State House meeting, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, who is tasked to lead Malava UDA by-election campaigns, expressed fears that the nomination could divide the party. 

Another aspirant said Mudavadi and UDA Secretary General Hassan Omar hoped that a visit to State House to meet the President would have led to some of them dropping out of the race.

“The President tried to persuade us by giving us examples where parties have lost by-elections due to aspirants’ egos and not agreeing on a consensus,” said the aspirant.

Another aspirant, however, told The Standard that the Head of State maintained that UDA can nominate its candidate through nominations, consensus, and a scientific approach.

Another source said the aspirants failed to agree to use consensus to nominate one of them after the President rejected their request for a refund of the costs so far incurred in the campaigns. 

“We proposed that if it is to have a consensus and back one of us, then we should be compensated for the money we have spent in our campaigns. But the President was categorically against the request. He, however, said that he can only refund such money if we produce genuine receipts on how we spent the money,” said one of the aspirants.

Additionally, the aspirants blamed Mudavadi for failing to give them a unified political direction and whip them ahead of the meeting with the President and today’s primaries.

“We were invited to the State House unprepared; we had no time to express ourselves because the President knew we had agreed on what to do. It is our feeling that our patron Mudavadi has failed to unite, whip, and give us direction. Mudavadi was to educate and show us the importance of consensus, give us hope, and a post-consensus agreement because we are loyal and united under UDA,” said one of the aspirants.

Lawyer Leonard Shimaka, former school principal Simon Kangwana, Ryan Malulu (the son of the late MP), and West Kabras MCA David Ndakwawill today battle for the UDA ticket.

Shimaka urged UDA supporters to come out in large numbers to elect him to fly the party ticket. He alleged a plot by their opponents to infiltrate the polls and elect a weak candidate.

“The election will be conducted electronically, and it will be free and fair. I want to urge our members to come out and elect me because I have great plans for them. I want to advise our UDA supporters to be vigilant because there is a plot by our opponents to infiltrate the polls and have a weak candidate elected,” said Shimaka.

Meanwhile, sibling rivalry between Gachagua’s Democracy of Citizens Party (DCP) and former CS Eugene Wamalwa’s DAP-K threatens to deny the opposition chances of clinching the seat.

DCP has picked on lawyer Edgar Busiega, while DAP-K has settled on Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN) Secretary General Seth Panyako.

Panyako is accusing the sister party, DCP, of frustrating him in winning the seat.