Tues 9th August 2022, Election Day
Four supporters of Deputy President William Ruto will battle it out in the March 18 Machakos senatorial contest amid widening rifts among his allies after the selection of Mr Urbanus Muthama Ngengele as the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) candidate.The nascent party associated with Dr Ruto picked Mr Ngengele after an opinion poll it had commissioned identified the insurance underwriter as the most popular aspirant. But most of those the opinion poll showed as underdogs dismissed the results.University of Nairobi don John Musingi and his Kenyatta University counterpart Rita Ndunge openly faulted the study."The survey did not even capture the names of all the aspirants. It was faulty and, therefore, could not truthfully reflect on the situation on the ground," a disgruntled Ms Ndunge told the Saturday Nation.A devastated Prof Musingi and Mr Joseph Mathuki vowed to run against Mr Ngengele. The Saturday Nation has learned that Prof Musingi was heading to Muungano Party while Mr Mathuki will vie as an independent candidate.Mr Muthama, who is the UDA interim chairman, however, played down the cracks which started manifesting way before the opinion poll, sending Lily Nduku Mwanzia, a diehard Dr Ruto supporter, into the hands of Chama Cha Uzalendo (CCU). She cited high-handedness in UDA for her defection.Other candidates are a former director of the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry Simeon Kitheka and Stanley Masai Muindi, the grandson of firebrand colonial era politician Muindi Mbingu.
Topic: 2 weeks old UDA rocked with divisions (Read 3152 times)