The United Democratic Alliance (UDA) has resolved to make changes to its leadership structure ahead of the upcoming party leadership elections.
In a statement on Friday, May 3, the party indicated that President William Ruto chaired a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting where members decided to have one position for a Deputy Party Leader and two offices for Assistant Deputy Party Leaders.
The decision came after jitters about the position of the Deputy Party Leader. Initially, the UDA Constitution provided for three Deputy Party Leaders which reportedly made Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua feel threatened in the party.
With the new amendment, the ruling party will have one Deputy Party Leader and two assistant Deputy Party Leaders in a move aimed at aligning the party’s structure with that of the national government.
“Among other things, the meeting agreed and approved an amendment to the UDA Party Constitution creating one position of the Deputy Party Leader and created two offices of Assistant Deputy Party Leaders.
“This NEC said was to align the Party’s structural leadership with the national governance structure,” the statement read in part.
Other leaders present at the meeting included UDA Party Chairperson Governor Cecily Mbarire, Secretary General Cleophas Malala, Vice Chairperson Omar Hassan and Majority Leader National Assembly Kimani Ichung’wah.
Others Included Majority Leader Senate Aaron Cheruiyot, Treasurer Japheth Nyakundi, and Governor Anne Waiguru among other UDA leaders.
Also Read: UDA Announces Repeat Elections in Select Counties
Recent UDA Resolutions
Over the past few weeks, UDA has held party primaries in various counties in what is expected to culminate in a national party event scheduled for next week.
However, the party announced earlier that it would hold repeat elections in five counties following challenges experienced due to the ongoing heavy rainfall across the country.
UDA said that despite voting taking place, logistical obstacles due to heavy rains and isolated incidents of theft and vandalism of electronic voting gadgets were reported in the UDA grassroots elections.
“After holding a post-mortem evaluation of those elections in the five counties where our party members went to poll, we have come to a conclusion that the exercise was largely successful,” the party stated.
“As would be expected with the current torrential rains pounding across the country, it was difficult for us to access some parts of the vast counties, notably West Pokot and Narok.”
Also Read: UDA Under Fire After Sending Chopper for Grassroot Elections
Other Voting Challenges
On April 26, UDA’s National Elections Board Chairman Anthony Mwaura revealed that Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja was not able to vote because of faulty machines.
According to him, Sakaja registered as a member of the party using his Passport and therefore the system failed to recognize the details on his ID card. However, he indicated that the problem had been solved.
“There was a problem with the governor because he had registered using his passport, but we have rectified that problem and everything is now flowing in that polling station,”
“We are excited by the technology we have adopted everything is going on as scheduled and we are happy as a party. We have agreed with our party leader and deputy party leader that we must solve all problems and that is what we are doing,” Mwaura said.
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