A section of United Democratic Alliance (UDA) aspirants in Uasin Gishu County has expressed concerns over plans for the upcoming party nominations.
The aspirants say there might be plans by some of the politicians close to Deputy President William Ruto to rig the nominations in their favor.
In a media briefing in Eldoret, the UDA aspirants said the introduction of new polling stations aside from the ones used by IEBC was part of the rigging plan.
They want the party to stick with polling stations that IEBC will be using in the August 9 poll.
“There are some new polling stations the party has introduced which we don’t recognize. As aspirants, we demand that gazetted polling stations used by IEBC be the ones the party will be using in the nominations,” said Julius Birgen, an aspirant seeking the UDA ticket in Uasin Gishu.
The aspirants also demanded another meeting with the UDA Returning Officer in the county after what they say the Wednesday meeting that was held in 34 counties failed to dispense off issues that were to be addressed, among them the election of Sub County Returning Officers.
“The Returning Officers sent by the National Elections Board (NEB) did not elect constituency returning officers and those at ward levels as it had been expected. We want the party to convene another meeting within 48 hours for aspirants to agree on who will be in charge of the party election,” said Sammy Mutienei, the Turbo UDA Sub County Coordinator.
Some of the aspirants further insisted that individuals handling the party primaries must be people known to them.
They cautioned party top leadership against any attempt to tilt the nomination results in their preferred candidates’ favor.
“People love this party, and we don’t want a few individuals to come and destroy the party,” noted Michael Kiprotich, another aspirant.
UDA nominations are scheduled to be held next Thursday, April 14, 2022, across the country.
