With just three days to go, as has been the case in past editions, party primaries are slowly escalating into an outright battle.
Deputy President William Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA) is already feeling the heat.
For a party that is barely a year old, it has attracted more than 6,000 aspirants.
And with such numbers comes the massive responsibility of subjecting all candidates to the same nomination procedure.
Over the past few weeks, there has been heavy disquiet over the alleged favouritism of some candidates by the party’s top brass.
Aspirants have also raised concerns over the thorny issue of their names mysteriously missing from the party membership list thanks to suspected external interference.
In this regard, a corrupt officer within the UDA administration has been hit by strong allegations of running a well-orchestrated con game where candidates are deliberately removed from the party’s membership list as well as the aspirants’ list without their knowledge.
The chap by the name of Brian Mbugua is reported to be working under the office of the Secretary-General Veronica Maina.
One of the latest victims of the ongoing fraud is Bobasi Boitangare Member of County Assembly aspirant Peter Akeya Mangua who sadly narrated to cnyakundi.com how his name was maliciously deleted from the list of registered nominees despite having paid the required Sh50,000 entry fee.
Fears of nomination favourites clouding the UDA primaries began immediately after the DP endorsed Senator Irungu Kang’ata for the Murang’a gubernatorial seat, Nakuru Senator Susan Kihika also for the governorship, and Mr Edward Muriu for the Gatanga parliamentary seat.
These allegations have constantly put the DP on the defensive, insisting that he will personally ensure credible party primaries.
But that still remains to be seen.
The aspirants will compete for the party’s ticket in 12 governor contests, 19 Senate races, 27 for Woman Representative, 128 single constituency Member of Parliament races and 892 of the 1,450 wards contests on Thursday next week.
