The leadership of the FORD Kenya party has insisted that it will not succumb to pressure from the Secretary General of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) Cleophas Malala to fold and join UDA.
Addressing the press at Trans Nzoia County party headquarters FORD Kenya Deputy Party Leader who is also Kwanza Constituency Member of Parliament Ferdinand Wanyonyi said Malala’s push is an exercise in futility.
“I am telling my brother, the UDA Secretary General Malala, to stop his push because it will not succeed. We are here to stay and at no point shall we fold our party,” Wanyonyi said.
The legislator who is one of the founding members of the Lion Party said Malala’s intention is to kill multi-party democracy.
“Kenya is a democratic country and anybody is allowed by the Constitution to join any political party of their choice, those who feel comfortable with UDA are free to join, those who love FORD Kenya are also free to join willingly and therefore Malala should not reverse the gains of multi-party democracy we fought for as the second oldest party in Kenya,” he added.
Wetangula deserves respect
On his part, FORD Kenya’s Executive Director Edward Munabi said it is not an offence for their Party Leader, Moses Wetangula to hold his position in the party while serving the country as the Speaker of the National Assembly.
He urged Malala and his foot soldiers to respect other Kenya Kwanza Alliance affiliate parties.
“Moses Wetangula is the third most powerful leader in Kenya and deserves respect. We all helped to form this government and Malala should not treat us as lesser parties because it is in the public domain that the 2022 presidential elections were won in Bungoma courtesy of FORD Kenya and Wetangula,” Munabi said.
Trans Nzoia County FORD Kenya Women League Secretary General, Nelly Wanambisi said the party is keen on grooming a 2032 Presidential candidate.
“We are aggressively doing grassroots registration of members because we are focused on the 2032 elections where we want to have Moses Wetangula as our Presidential candidate. By then, he will be ripe for the big seat,” Wanambisi said.
Harrison Wesa youth league leader called on previous party members who defected to other parties to rejoin the party arguing the party is rejuvenated and strengthened.
“We have an agenda and a vision of sweeping the majority if not all the seats in Trans Nzoia and Bungoma Counties because the two counties are our zone. We can only achieve this if we have numbers,” Wesa said.
