William Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance party is staring at mass defections in the port city of Mombasa due to existing bad blood between former senator Hassan Omar and would-be party aspirants. Omar is Ruto’s point-man in the region in addition to being UDA’s Mombasa governor aspirant. Allies of Ruto are accusing Omar of hijacking the party and running it like a personal property. They say, the former senator has sidelined them and instead prefers to work with his own lineup which includes Wiper supporters whom he worked with when he was secretary general of the Kalonzo Musyoka party. “We are tired with the behavior of former senator Omar. He wants to discriminate against us yet we have all along supported Ruto when he was fighting him and calling him names.
It is him who will have to leave UDA if he doesn’t change his political ways,” said an angry Ali Mwatsahu who is eyeing the Mvita parliamentary seat. Mwatsahu wondered why Omar is handpicking aspirants for various elective seats without giving room to consultations. He said UDA is for all hustlers and not for a few elite as Omar was demonstrating. He called on the DP to intervene before it is too late. A few weeks ago, some of Ruto’s Mombasa supporters disgruntled with Omar’s style of politics reportedly met Baringo senator Gideon Moi at Royal Court Hotel in the town and expressed willingness to join his camp. It is not clear what he exactly told them but a source said Gideon promised to organise a meeting at Kanu headquarters in a few weeks time for them to defect officially. But a seemingly unbothered Omar has been meeting his preferred
aspirants to prepare for next year’s general election.
In Mvita constituency, Omar has identified one Twaha as the UDA candidate. In Changamwe he wants businessman Nicholas Mutuku, in Likoni it is one Domoko and in Jomvu it is Karisa Nzai. Omar’s preferred senator is Peterson Mittau and woman rep he has settled on Esther Chepng’etich in a move being challenged by Afya Rama. Those against Omar’s lineup claim it is unelectable. In Likoni, a son of former area MP the late Masoud Mwahima, Mohammed Mwahima, is being preferred by major of the area hustlers in UDA. They claim Mwahima is already a step ahead of many aspirants and it is foolhardy for Omar to ignore him. They further claim a one Mwamtoa is more popular than Domoko. At the Hustlers Centre in Nyali, UDA supporters claim there is usually a hostile reception by individuals employed by Omar to man the centre. “The staff at the centre in Nyali are only good at eating biriani every Friday but are not adding any value to UDA campaigns and activities. They only pretend to be working when the DP is around,” said an aspiring MCA.
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