UDA constituency elections continue amidst party's miscommunications

Ogola Kagoro (left), former Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero and KEMSA director Hesborn Omollo address journalists at Asumbi Primary School in Rangwe on May 18, 2024. [James Omoro, Standard]

The United Democratic Alliance(UDA) constituency-level elections have begun across five counties.

The third face of the polls is being conducted in Nairobi, Busia, Narok, West Pokot, and Homa Bay counties.

On Friday morning, the exercise was reported to have successfully begun in Homabay and parts of Narok counties.

Similarly, elections in  Nairobi began but were marred with chaos at a polling centre in Highway primary school.

The grassroot elections come amidst leadership wrangling in the party and among other political leaders.

At first, there was confusion on the social media pages relaying a miscommunication on postponement of the elections.

The situation first saw the party’s Secretary General Cleophas Malala declaring yesterday that the party’s Facebook account had been hacked.

"I want to announce that our communication platform, our official UDA Facebook page, has been hacked," Malala said in a video seen by the Standard.

"We have made a report to Facebook administrators that our account has been hacked. Anything you see posted on the page should be ignored."

However, digital strategist Dennis Itumbi refuted the claims, assuring that the party's social media pages were safe.

"The United Democratic Alliance, @UDAKenya, Pages are safe across Social Media to ignore anyone saying anything to the contrary," Itumbi tweeted.

The party’s executive director Nicodemus Bore went on and clarified urging members to disregard any communication made by anyone not a member of the national elections board.

“We  advise members of the party to disregard and ignore any notice or communication emanating from and purporting to  any other address matters concerning elections