DP’s public embrace of new party calms nerves
Wycliff Kipsang @wsang08
Deputy President William Ruto’s move to formally announce that he is contemplating using the newly formed United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party as his 2022 political vehicle has finally calmed political anxiety in his Rift Valley backyard.
People Daily has established that the region has been at crossroads following the rifts in the Jubilee Party which has seen the DP sidelined.
All has not been well in Jubilee Party since the Handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga in March 2018, a move the DP’s allies have all along viewed as a wider scheme to isolate their man, who helped form the government.
The Handshake has also seen the DP’s allies striped of key Senate and parliamentary positions to accommodate the new partners.
The announcement by President Uhuru Kenyatta last week, during a meeting with Ukambani leaders at State House that President Uhuru Kenyatta that he will pick his 2022 successor from among the Nasa principals if they unite and agree on a single candidate has ruffled feathers in the DP’s camp.
Overwhelming support
Nasa affiliates include ODM under Raila, Amani National Congress, under Musalia Mudavadi, Kalonzo Musyoka’s Wiper and Ford Kenya under Moses Wetang’ula.
“The Handshake between me and my brother Raila has enabled me to deliver on my election pledges. When you unite, the burden of leadership becomes lighter,” said the president.
MPs Caleb Kositany (Soy) and Keiyo South MP Daniel Rono said the president’s announcement did not come as a surprise.
“We’ve seen signs all along that the President has forgotten the overwhelming support the DP gave him in 2013 and 2017 polls.
His announcement that he will back a Nasa candidate is the last nail on the coffin of Jubilee Party,”said Kositany.
Rono said the DP’s formal announcement that UDA would be the region’s 2021 political vehicle was long overdue. “Time has come for the DP to chart his own political path and UDA is the party to beat in the 2022 polls,” said Rono.
Jubilee Party secretary general Raphael Tuju has said that plans are at an advanced stage to merge Jubilee and ODM ahead of 2022.
“We will in the next few weeks reveal the finer details on the post Handshake agreement. The two party leaders (President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga) will be involved,”said Tuju.
Speaking during a tour of West Pokot on Saturday, the DP, for the first time publicly declared that UDA is his 2022 political party of choice.
Tribal outfits
The DP had never verbally associated himself with the party but the president’s announcement may have made him come out in the open.
“They have broken a national party (Jubilee). Now they are saying everybody should go back to their tribal outfits. The Hustler Nation cannot go into tribal outfits. We want a national party which can unite all Kenyans. And that party is UDA,” said Ruto.
People Daily has established that UDA has embarked on a rigorous grassroot mobilization campaign with interim officials of the party meeting potential candidates for various seats in next year’s elections.
