Ruto faces uphill task in UDM takeover

By Steve Mkawale

Presidential aspirant William Ruto’s bid to run for the top seat on a United Democratic Movement ticket was Friday hit by turbulence.

On a day that was meant to start paving the way for him to rise to the helm of the party, two factions held parallel meetings in Nairobi, with the one allied to the Eldoret North MP passing a

UDM Interim National Chairman Joseph Chirchir with Prof Hellen Sambili after the party’s National Executive Council meeting at its headquarters in Nairobi. The two are allied to Ruto’s faction of the party. [PHOTO: PIUS CHERUIYOT/STANDARD]

resolution to hold elections next month while throwing the door open for Ruto and other ODM rebels to join.

Interim chairman, Joseph Chirchir, a Ruto ally, was the convener of the meeting Martin ole Kamwaro had disowned, arguing that such meetings can only be convened by the secretary-general.

After the meeting in Lavington, Nairobi, the former Higher Education minister accompanied by Lugari MP Cyrus Jirongo and his Chepalungu counterpart Isaac Rutto announced that the outcome of the meeting was final and the party would hold elections between February 7 and 22.

Void resolutions

However, Mr Kamwaro, the party’s Secretary General and ousted chairman Maj Gen (rtd) John Koech and a host of other members of the party’s National ExecutiveCouncil, dismissed the resolution to hold election and termed the deliberations as illegal and void.

"The resolutions and deliberations of any other meeting are not binding to members of UDM," said Kamwaro while addressing a press conference at the Red Centre in Nairobi after their meeting.

The meetings came a day after Kamwaro wrote to the Registrar of Political Parties distancing the party from the NEC meeting that had been convened by the interim chairman via sms.

Ruto, an ODM MP parted ways with Prime Minister Raila Odinga and has been popularising UDM, saying he would run on its ticket in this year’s presidential election.

Kamwaro and Koech accused Ruto of breaking the same laws that he endorsed in Parliament as an MP.

"He is an ODM MP and the deputy party leader, why is he interfering with the affairs of our party?" Koech said.

The parallel meeting was attended by half of the NEC members after which they filed minutes of the meeting with the Registrar of Political Parties.

The meeting also sought to open new offices and tasked Kamwaro to file a complaint to the Speaker of the National Assembly about Ruto’s conduct.

"Ruto and company violated the constitution of UDM and we will deal with them."

"Why should ODM registered members infiltrate our party, UDM, which has no internal wrangles?"

"It is unfortunate that our chairman succumbed to arm-twisting and intimidation from outside forces instead of welcoming them as non-members who should be vetted to meet criteria of joining UDM lawfully," Kamwaro told the media.

This is despite pending cases in which Koech has petitioned the court to overturn changes that saw him replaced by Chirchir. Equally significant is another case filed by the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) that wants Ruto and his allies in his former party stripped of memberships and their parliamentary seats declared vacant.

Final decision

The court is yet to determine the two cases that will without doubt further affect the dynamics of politics in Ruto’s power base as he positions to run for presidency later this year.

Yesterday, Ruto told journalists that he was at UDM headquarters to hear the final decision of the party’s NEC regarding the elections. The lawmaker had earlier in the week indicated he was ready to move on if the party failed to strike a consensus on his imminent switch to UDM.

A clearly displeased Kamwaro yesterday said: "We challenged Ruto to show decorum while joining our party and not through forcing an illegality and appointing cronies to offices."

The party plunged into a crisis when NEC disagreed on a decision to hold fresh party grassroots elections in line with the Political Parties Act 2011.

Whereas Ruto and a section of NEC officials supported fresh elections, the other leaders, citing the party constitution, argued the polls were not due until 2013.

Speaking at yesterday’s press conference, Chirchir said the meeting had resolved to hold fresh elections.

"We have called for the elections in a bid to comply with the Political Parties Act," he said and played down the squabbles the party is steeped in.

Kamwaro had on Thursday told our sister publication, The Standard, that the NEC meeting was illegally convened and was against the party’s constitution.

At the press briefing, Chirchir contradicted him when he said the emergency NEC meeting was in line with the party’s rules and regulations and that Kamwaro was aware of it.

"At least 30 members of the NEC petitioned the party for an emergency NEC in a signed letter dated January 2. I took responsibility as the chairman to convene the meeting in consultation with the secretary general," said Chirchir.

Chirchir said Ruto, Jirongo and another member of the UDM had clearly stated their intention to contest the presidency in 2012 on UDM ticket.

"UDM is the fastest growing party in the country at the moment and already two sitting MPs who are not members have shown interest in contesting the presidency via the party’s ticket," said the chairman.

He added that the party welcomes Ruto and other rebel ODM MPs willing to join UDM and that elections would be free and fair.

If the resolutions are upheld and the party goes to the polls, sub-branch and county elections will be held from February 7-9, while the national delegates convention (NDC) will be on February 22. The party’s presidential candidate will be nominated at the NDC.

Ruto formed an alliance with Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka and Saboti MP Eugene Wamalwa.

But Uhuru and Kalonzo have been busy strengthening Kanu and Wiper Democratic Movement respectively in preparation for the elections.

UDM has only one MP – Prof Hellen Sambili.