Sudi: Bad boy of nomination rows in Ruto’s party?
Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi has become the face of the ugly side of the just-ended United Democratic Alliance nominations with his name featuring in many of the contested results.
Although he has been heavily mentioned together with Soy MP Caleb Kositany and Deputy President William Ruto’s aide Farouk Kibet for allegedly interfering with the UDA nominations, Sudi has attracted more accusations from aspirants across the Rift Valley region.
The second-term MP has denied influencing any nomination although he has indicated he had “little” interest in some of the key battles that have attracted fierce disputes.
Despite his denial, his name featured in some of the hotly contested races in the North Rift with aggrieved contestants accusing him of engineering their defeat.
Tough contest
In Uasin Gishu, supporters of the outgoing Governor Jackson Mandago and aspirant Jonathan Chelilim, alias Koti Moja, singled the Kapseret MP out for what they said was an attempt to interfere with the results before they were formally announced.
Mandago, who is seeking the county’s Senate seat, had been locked in a tough contest with lawyer Kipchumba Karori with the latter leading for a while when the results started trickling in.
Karori is a close ally of Sudi, who had been against Mandago’s candidature for the better part of the year, telling him to let younger leaders vie for the position.
The Governor, however, ended up victorious after results from his strongholds nudged him ahead of competitor. There was some delay in announcing him the winner leading to rumours that they were being “adjusted” by people interested in ensuring a particular candidate won.
In the race for Nandi Hills MP, the lawmaker’s influence was more overt with him not only acknowledging his interest in who won the seat but also campaigning against incumbent Alfred Keter who was seeking the party’s ticket with five others.
Sudi and Kositany were accused of hatching plans to vote out Keter, a party outlier who is known for speaking his mind and overtly criticising the Deputy President.
Recently, the two mended fences and Keter was at hand to receive the DP when he visited Nandi last December.
But ahead of the UDA primaries in the constituency on Tuesday, Sudi and Kositany openly campaigned against Keter telling residents it would be wrong for them to elect someone who, they said, had built a career criticising the DP.
Sudi said Keter was his friend but was working to ensure he lost, accusing him of being stubborn.
He also said he was interested in who won the nominations in Mosop constituency.
“You can accuse me on Mosop and I’m ready for that accusation. I was too direct on Jembe Nne (Mosop MP Vincent Tuwei) who is a leader full of lies. If Keter is defeated, I have some little influence. I have no interest elsewhere but you can accuse me of Nandi Hills and Mosop. Keter is my friend but he is stubborn and has empty ambitions,” said Sudi.
Kositany had also told residents not to vote for Keter accusing him of using his position to abuse the DP.
“If someone lies to you once, he is a liar. If he lies to you twice then you are a fool. How many times do you want to lie to the people of Nandi Hills? This is someone who after being elected goes all over insulting us and the Deputy President,” the Soy MP said.
Despite this, Keter won, beating Bernard Kitur who had the support of Ruto’s allies led by Sudi.
He received 10,273 votes while Kitur came second with 7,468 votes. Kitur has filed a dispute with the UDA nomination committee.
After the victory, Keter did not relent in attacking Sudi and those who campaigned against him.
“These people don’t mean well for our Deputy President. They are forcing people to oppose him. They want people to go to the opposition. They don’t like him, they don’t love him. If they loved him, they wouldn’t have put us through all this,” said Keter.
In Mosop, Tuwei was defeated by Abraham Kirwa in the nominations.
Accusing finger
In the South Rift, the Bomet Senate race aspirants, incumbent Christopher Lang’at and former Knut secretary general Wilson Sossion, have pointed an accusing finger at senior party politicians for their defeat.
Lawyer Hillary Sigei was declared the winner, sparking protests from the two competitors.
“I won the Senate nomination in Bomet. If someone thinks they will make sure a business partner will win so they can continue stealing from us, we will not allow that. I’m thanking the Bomet people for electing me. We have campaigned with our resources and people voted for us,” said Lang’at.
The two have since agreed to support one of them to vie as an independent candidate with expectations it will be the incumbent who will face Sigei in August.
Sudi has never been far from trouble. Presently, he is facing claims of masterminding the stoning of ODM leader Raila Oding’a helicopter in Soy early this month. He was questioned together with Kositany although not much has so far come from the investigations.
A number of the suspects arrested after the incident were freed by an Eldoret court for lack of evidence.
