What’s happening? Malala accuses Ayub Savula of masquerading as Mudavadi’s deputy, ANC labels the senator’s statement as fake
What’s happening between Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala and Lugari MP Ayub Savula at Amani National Congress (ANC) party?
On Tuesday, November 30, Malala shared a statement on his social media pages that had ANC’s letterhead and whose content criticized Savula’s position in the party. The statement, which he captioned as ‘PUBLIC NOTICE’ also had the party leader Musalia Mudavadi as the undersigned.
Contents of the document accused Savula and some unnamed party members of illegally acting as the party's spokespersons to ‘spread lies.’
"Certain members have erroneously assigned themselves the position of party spokesperson and issued statements that have since been circulated by print and electronic media outlets," the statement read in part.
"Utterances by persons purporting to hold office and therefore speak for and on behalf of the party should be largely disregarded by the media. By this notice, we abrogate all utterances stated by Hon Ayub Angatia Savula in a purported capacity of deputy party leader," it added.
Shortly after, the party denounced Malala’s post and labelled it as fake. We sought clarification from Malala who held his ground that the notice he shared was legit and the true position of the party.
He claimed that Savula has always posed as Mudavadi's deputy and has successfully hoodwinked the media into believing that he holds the position, affirming the statement that he had shared on his social media platforms which had categorically stated that Savula bore no authority to speak on behalf of the Mudavadi-led party.
ANC's Deputy party leader is currently Kassim Tandaza Sawa.
He further accused Savula of using the party's official social media platforms, with the help of an operative, to propagate their interests.
Malala further disclosed that ANC's social media platforms are in the custody of the said operative who bears allegiance to Savula.
We sought further clarification from a member of the party's communication team who refuted the claim.
"The ANC official Facebook page is run by (John) Atambo, who is a former workmate of Savula, and he is misusing the party machinery. We all know Savula is not the deputy party leader. Why hasn't Mudavadi, the party chairman or the secretary general refuted that?," he told People Daily Digital.
But the party distanced itself from the said letter, stating that the communication did not emanate from the party leader as purported.
"We wish to frankly dissociate from such deceitful and frivolous actions of manipulation whose intentions remain undefined," the statement by the party read.
We spoke to ANC Secretary-General Simon Gikuru who also dissociated the party from the alleged notice shared by Malala.
Gikuru stated that ANC has clearly defined communication channels and that the Kakamega lawmaker has no authority to speak on behalf of the party.
