Deputy President William Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA) has dismissed reports that the party plans to share top positions with friendly outfits if it forms the next government.
UDA also says it won’t challenge the new political parties law that President Kenyatta signed last Thursday.
Speaking in Nairobi on Monday January 31, UDA chairman Johnson Muthama said reports in the media about a deal with affiliate parties amounted to speculation and that the party had not reached any coalition agreement with those outfits.
Mr Muthama said UDA is a national party and will ensure that democracy prevails in nominations. He added that nothing had been agreed upon between UDA, Amani National Congress (ANC) and Ford Kenya.
“There is no agreement whatsoever that has been signed between the three political parties,” Mr Muthama said.
“We’re friends who will continue speaking and doing things together but when the time of agreeing on the conditions and terms comes, that is when that will be dealt with.”
The remarks come a day after Amani National Congress (ANC) party leader Musalia Mudavadi said he and his partners were still working on selecting the presidential candidate for the Kenya Kwanza Alliance.
“Ultimately, we shall name the candidate who will fly the Kenya Kwanza flag. However, at the moment, our priority is to unite Kenyans and ensure we have a peaceful election,” Mr Mudavadi said.
But Mr Muthama said there will be no zoning and that UDA will not pick leaders on the basis of their ethnicity.
“We want to eliminate the perception that, for a person to be the President of this country, they should come from a certain community because he or she brings this number of votes… the picture this would send to small communities is that they don’t deserve to exist,” he said.
UDA was responding to an article published in a local daily, purporting to show how the Kenya Kwanza Alliance plans to share power if it forms the government.
On the new political parties law, Mr Muthama said: “We’re not challenging it. It will apply to those who passed it the same way it will apply to us. If those laws favour whoever formulated them, they will favour us also,” he said. Four hours later, the UDA chairman sent a statement to media houses stating that he has been misquoted.
Prioritise the people
“The coalition agreement between UDA, ANC, and Ford Kenya although not yet concluded is in the works. Our coming together was informed by three issues, which our parties consider cardinal and have agreed upon,” it stated. “First we have agreed to work together. Therefore, details of agreement are [in] the works,”he said, adding, the alliance has agreed to prioritise the people.
The economy and national debt were also issues. Fielding of candidates will be addressed when the finer details of agreement have been worked out, he added. BY DAILY NATION