Gatanga Member of Parliament (MP) Edward Muriu maintains that nominations for seats in the Murang’a County Assembly were bungled and wants President William Ruto to intervene.
Muriu says the nomination slots were awarded to different people other than the ones which the elected leaders had proposed.
He claimed that the then United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party Secretary-General Veronica Maina and the director for elections tampered with the list that they had presented and replaced legitimate beneficiaries with other names.
“We had sat down as leaders of Murang’a, and each gave names of the people we would like nominated to the county assembly which we presented to the UDA headquarters,” he said.
“We were shocked to see the list that was published by IEBC since the names we had given had been scrapped off,” he added.
Out of the 12 seats that were up for grabs, the MP said, Gatanga and Kangema did not get any while Kiharu took seven seats.
“We had an agreement that the nomination slots will be given to the people who have been supporting the party since its inception but this was not the case,” he said.
“The nomination hopefuls feel very demeaned and discriminated because someone looked down on them and disregard the work they had done for the party,” the legislator added.
The MP, who is the secretary-general on legal affairs in the party, said this is not a matter to be ignored as it can lead to serious problems in the future.
He said if not careful, UDA could be headed for a downfall just like the Jubilee party.
“The party leadership need to address the emerging issues and fix them before they become unmanageable,“ he added.
Muriu said those aggrieved by the matter have already moved to court to seek legal redress which he said does not set a good presence for the party.
“Why would the party allow people who worked so hard for it to go to court to seek justice over something that would have been avoided?” he posed.
He said the president and his deputy had promised that the party shall conduct its affairs in a transparent manner and thus they should address this matter.
“I would propose we have a dialogue over this issue, the case be withdrawn and the nominations to be given to the right people,” he remarked.
