United Democratic Alliance (UDA), a party linked to Deputy President William Ruto has dismissed reports of defection of some party officials to Raila Odinga party, ODM.
The report had suggested that ODM received about 1,000 UDA members from Kisii county who promised to support their son, Interior CS Fred Matiang’i.
However, while speaking in Kisii, UDA National Treasurer Omingo Magara said the party is yet to conduct grassroots elections and has not elected any officials in Kisii to be assumed to have left to join ODM.
“United Democratic Alliance has not held grassroots elections to fill party position. Therefore, those alleged party defections are of pretenders and not party officials from the sub-counties,” Magara said.
Magara reiterated UDA’s 2022 campaign slogan of the bottom-up economic approach which he said shall deliver the country from economic troubles.
“The (UDA) movement is fine. We are focused, determined, and have a direction to follow … to deliver our country and community to prosperity using the bottom-up approach,” Magara said.
It was said the defectors were UDA grassroots mobilisers, instrumental in making popularisng the party William Ruto intends to use to vie for the presidency.
Magara said the purported defectors were meant to create an impression William Ruto’s party’s influence in Gusii region is reducing.
It came barely days after William Ruto held a successful campaign tour of the Gusii region, considered a Raila Odinga political stronghold.
With less than one year to the 2022 General Election, politicians and political leaders defecting from one party to the other has been on the rise.
Jubilee Party for instance has witnessed several senior politicians defecting to joining William Ruto’s UDA party with the latest being Laikipia county Woman Representative Cate Waruguru.
Others who defected from Jubilee to UDA are Kiambu County Woman Representative Gathoni Wa Muchomba and Kirinyaga County Governor Anne Waiguru.
