Deputy President William Ruto Faces Battle for UDA Party Ownership

A fresh battle over the ownership of Deputy President William Ruto-linked United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party has emerged.

This comes after the party’s former chairman Mohamed Abdi Noor filed a petition before the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal seeking to reclaim the ownership of the party from Ruto allies.

Noor accuses UDA officials led by Machakos Senator Johnstone Muthama (Chairman) and Veronica Maina (Secretary-General) of illegally taking over the party leadership in disregard of its constitution. He wants the tribunal to revoke the leadership changes made to UDA and reinstate him as the bonafide chairman.

“I am aware on my own knowledge that the Registrar of Political Parties unlawfully made changes to the party’s National Executive Council (NEC) officials through Gazette Notice No. 1233 dated January 29, 2021, and 2739 published on March 19, 2021,” Noor says in an affidavit.

He adds: “The Registrar deliberately ignored complaints and reservations leading to the change of officials.”

Noor avers that suspended secretary-general Mohamed Sahal convened a meeting on December 11th, 2020 where officials signed forms to change the name of the party from Party for Development and Reforms (PDR) to UDA.

The officials later learned that the signed forms were used to make changes in the party officials, who are NEC members.

UDA embarked on a nationwide membership registration campaign earlier this year, netting nearly three million members.

Ruto recently declared he will run for the presidency in 2022 on a UDA ticket.

UDA has won two elective seats this year, defeating the ruling Jubilee Party in the London ward and Kiambaa parliamentary by-elections held in March and July respectively.