North Eastern party UDM denies link to any presidential candidate
United Democratic Movement (UDM) party has denied any affiliation to Deputy President William Ruto or any other politician seeking presidency in 2022 General Elections.
In a statement, the party said it was opened for negotiations with any presidential candidate ahead of next year's polls.
"As it stands, no presidential candidate has reached out to us nor shared their agenda in search of our support or coalition," the party said.
UDM is currently dominant in North Eastern Kenya.
Two weeks ago, Mandera Governor Ali Roba and his Marsabit counterpart Mohammud Ali took over as UDM party leader and deputy leader respectively.
The take over of the party came after Upya Movement was formed.
Treasury CS Ukur Yatani and Eldas MP Adan Keynan are behind Upya.
“You cannot coerce anyone into loyalty. It has never worked across the globe. You can only lobby, make people understand, get the buy in from the people and be able to sit with the right representatives of the people,” Roba said.
H added: “We don’t have a problem with them, but we are being treated like guests in the problem.”
In 2017, Northeastern region voted overwhelmingly for President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy under the Jubilee party.
