TNA secretariat promises to hold elections in April

The National Alliance (TNA) is planning to hold its first elections this year as it seeks to stem an impending fallout.

TNA secretariat says it is finalising its programmes to enable delegates go to the polls by April. This comes in the wake of renewed wrangles over the current status of the party that have been reignited by a group of MPs led by Kanini Kega (Kieni).

Kega and his Kajiado West counterpart Moses ole Sakuda accused the current officials of presiding over a dormant party in spite of TNA being in the ruling coalition, and relocating the party headquarters to a 'secret' place.

The two also claim party officials have never accounted for millions of shillings that the party receives from membership subscription and the political parties' kitty.

"As we speak, TNA does not have any functional organ. We have not held any meeting after elections to come up with any position on national issues. This is in contrast to our competitors like Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) whose various organs meet regularly," Kega said.

The Kieni lawmaker said TNA risks suffering the same fate as the Party of National Unity, where it may not be relevant in the next general elections.

"The party does not even have a secretary to its parliamentary group and shockingly, majority of our members including MPs do not know where the party headquarters is. We are told it's around State House but no one has even invited us there," he added.

Sakuda cited TNA Chair Johnson Sakaja's sentiments during the burial of ODM leader Raila Odinga's son Fidel on Saturday that Jubilee MPs were willing to hold dialogue with the Opposition yet the party has not met to make that resolution.

He also said when Sakaja toured Kajiado Central Constituency and outlined the party's position ahead of the by-election, other leaders were not consulted.

"We must put our house in order. We must now focus on reviving the party to make it strong to articulate the position of members, not individuals," Sakuda said.

Sakaja was not available for comment. However, TNA Secretary General Onyango Oloo said they were not afraid of elections and are finalising their programmes as they prepare for the exercise.

"We are putting systems in place to ensure we don't face embarrassing experiences like what happened in ODM," Onyango said.

On the issue of accountability, Mr Oloo said he was regularly audited by both internal auditors and the auditor general as per the law and asked the MPs to formally write to the party to seek the audited books to see how funds were used.

He defended the secretariat from claims that it has failed to appoint the parliamentary group secretary saying the organ is a caucus for MPs, who are expected pick one of their own to co-ordinate them.