UDA nominations will be free and fair, Ruto tells aspirants

Deputy President William Ruto has assured those seeking United Democratic Alliance (UDA) tickets for the 2022 General Election that the party will hold a free and fair nomination exercise.

Speaking when he met grassroots leaders from Nakuru County today at his Karen residence, Ruto said the UDA nomination certificates will not be handed to the highest bidders or those close to him but those who have the support of the masses.

“Our nomination certificates will not be about how close you are to the DP or powerful politicians in the new party,” he said.

The DP said even those who want to vie for President through UDA are free to join the party and take him head-on, saying the party must be built on the foundation of fairness.

“Those who want to run against me, let them come out and declare their candidature, we will compete fairly and the winner will be given the ticket,” he added.

Ruto said the party will arrange for early nominations so that in the event of challenges, the elections can be repeated.

He, however, told the would-be UDA aspirants that once a candidate was declared the winner after a fair nomination process, they must all back him.

“Once we have a candidate through a fair process, we all support the winner and move forward as a party.”

The DP said UDA will be the new Jubilee Party, adding that even before the 2022 polls, it had the support of 150 sitting MPs compared to old parties like ODM, Wiper and ANC.

“We already have 150 MPs yet old outfits such as ODM has less than 80 MPS, Wiper has less than 20 MPs while ANC has less than 10 MPs,” Ruto said.

He challenged the BBI proponents to ask for forgiveness for wasting four years chasing wind at the expense of the government projects.

“We had programmes to help ordinary Kenyans through the Big Four Agenda in Jubilee but unfortunately the reggae and BBI came and everything collapsed.”