UDA assures aspirants of fairness ahead of grassroots elections

UDA National Elections Board Chairman, Anthony Mwaura during an inspection of voting materials at the party's logistical coordination office ahead of the party's grassroots elections. [Benard Orwongo,Standard]

The United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party will kick off  its grassroots elections on Saturday in 20 counties across the country. 

Addressing the media at the party's National Elections Board chairman Anthony Mwaura assured members of security during the entire process. He spoke after inspecting the preparations ahead of the elections.

Mwaura said at least 25,000 police officers will be deployed to provide security across all the 12,800 polling stations where the elections will be held.

"Tomorrow there will be no chaos, because we will be having 25,600 policemen manning polling stations, with each location manned by two policemen. We don't expect there will be chaos, because UDA voters and supporters are united and peaceful. So we expect everything will run smoothly and peacefully," he added. 

The ruling party's grassroots elections are coming at the backdrop of heightened political tensions, particularly in the Mt Kenya region with the former deputy President Rigathi Gachagua's Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) fighting to take over the UDA voting bloc.

Recently, the two political outfits locked horns in hotly contested by-elections that saw the ruling party beat DCP in Mbeere North and Malava parliamentary seats. 

A day after the mini-polls, President William Ruto described the victory as a warning to the opposition of an "impending defeat in 2027 general elections." 

"Nishawaambia majamaa, wakiendelea na hii, tutawazamisha asubuhi na mapema (I have told them, if they continue in this manner, we will trounce them early in the morning," Ruto said on November 28, last year. 

Gachagua has, however, maintained that the political dominance of his former boss' ruling party in Central region is a thing of the past. 

“By the way, UDA now is a shell. UDA was ‘Riggy G’ at the mountain. Without ‘Riggy G’ at the mountain, there’s no UDA. There’s no party there,” he told The Standard during a past interview ,  referring to himself by his popular nickname. 

The turn-out in the Saturday UDA polls appears to be a litmus test for the two outfits in the region. 

According to Mwaura, the party polls are the last phase of the grassroots elections, after other 27 counties conducted the exercise last year.  

The elections, he noted, will involve Mt. Kenya and Rift Valley region counties, and Kakamega and Vihiga counties of Western Kenya. 

"The number of contestants have really risen up, and already we have got almost 400,000 contestants," he said, adding that the voting will be exclusively conducted digitally. 

"UDA have embraced technology. And in the gadgets we are using, once you identify yourself, and you vote, when another voter comes, it continues adding itself up to the last person," he said. 

He assured their members of credibility in the outcomes as one "cannot be able to tamper with the gadget, because the moment you try to tamper with it, it will disconnect itself." 

The UDA members, he noted, will have an opportunity to elect is 20 representatives including, among others, the chairperson, farmers representative, Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises representative, youth representative, and women representative.