Gachagua to Negotiate Contentious Nairobi UDA Polls

President William Ruto chaired UDA Party National Executive Committee (NEC), where a raft of decisions were made on the ongoing party elections.

At the meeting at State House, where the National Election Board (NEB) gave their brief on the ongoing polls, Ruto gave his nod on the polls transparency.

Among the controversial decisions that Ruto made was to allow his Deputy Rigathi Gachagua to lead in negotiations that will lead to a political settlement.

There are two camps that are at loggerheads on the process of the elections in Nairobi.

One camp is led by Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja and the other by Embakasi North Member of Parliament James Gakuya. Gakuya is Gachagua’s man in the city.

The Nairobi elections are among those that have been postponed due to misunderstandings among the stakeholders on how they should be conducted amid claims of interference.

“Nairobi’s polls can be held on the same day as the other two counties,” Ruto said.

It was the first such meeting to be held between Ruto, Gachagua and the NEC members after days of a standoff for months now.

Ruto asked the NEB Chairman Anthony Mwaura to proceed with County level elections in the counties of Homabay and Busia, whose constituency polls were not challenged.

He however directed that the elections in Narok and West Pokot, which have been contested in court be suspended pending the outcome of the disputes.

“Where the courts have issued orders stopping the election, we have to postpone. We must respect court orders,” said the President.

Ruto also put to rest the contentious issue of composition of the National Delegates Conference, with NEC strongly adopting the formula on sharing of delegates on county basis depending on the presidential vote that each county returned to the UDA presidential candidate in 2022 elections.

This process will see counties that garnered over 50 percent produce 20 delegates each to the NDC, with others below that mark sharing other slots on a pro-rata basis.

Ruto who is the party leader further gave NEB the go-ahead to proceed with phase two elections in 13 counties.

Gachagua and other NEC members were in attendance.