United Democratic Alliance (UDA) Secretary General Cleophas Malala on Monday, April 14, revealed that there was an impending succession battle in the party.
Malala was speaking after reports came out that UDA had three slots for Deputy Party Leader, a position that has been until now solely occupied by Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
In his view, the Secretary-General revealed that it was unfair to expose the Deputy President to a competition of who is second in command.
“Many parties break due to succession battles. We need a straight command structure,” he explained.
He explained that Gachagua’s position should not be elective and should mirror that of President William Ruto who is the Party leader on the virtue of being the party’s presidential candidate.
“In my view, if we have a party leader who is not voted for as he is the presidential candidate, the same respect should be accorded to Gachagua who was his running mate,” Malala explained.
He added that a petition was already being prepared to amend the constitution and make Gachagua’s post be non-elective.
“We want to make it very clear that UDA is a democratic party. Our constitution says we have 3 deputy party leaders but it also gives National Executive Council (NEC) power to amend the constitution,” he explained.
“Ahead of the National Delegates Conference, we are going to put amendments so we have one Party Leader, one Deputy Party Leader and other officials
Malala further remarked that a UDA party member had already put in a petition to scrap the three positions of deputy party leader.
If adopted, the party will have one deputy party leader and four assistant deputy party leaders.
The conversation has surfaced at a time when a section of Mt Kenya leaders have endorsed Kiharu Member of Parliament Ndindi Nyoro to succeed President William Ruto.
