Malindi Member of Parliament, Aisha Jumwa, has been accused of denying United Democratic Alliance (UDA) aspirants access to Deputy President William Ruto.
While addressing the press on Friday, December 24, the coastal aspirants, majorly drawn from Kilifi County, accused Jumwa of being overprotective with the DP.
Led by Kilifi Senatorial aspirant, Caroline Chilango, the group stated that the party was losing aspirants to other parties because of the actions of Jumwa.
“We support Ruto 100 per cent but how the leaders in Kilifi are running the party is making it difficult. There are those who would like to join the party but they are facing challenges.
“Aspirants have left the party and gone to other parties because of the problems within the party. Therefore, we must address these issues so that we can plan how we will run the campaigns of the UDA party,” she stated.
Additionally, the group also accused the MP of misleading the DP stating that there were issues that were affecting them and needed to be addressed.
Consequently, Chilango called on the DP to convene an emergency meeting so that they can air the problems that they are facing in the party. She added that many of them would reconsider their association with the party if the issues persist.
"We have tried our best but we are finding challenges in accessing our party leader. If things continue like this then we will reconsider because many people have left the party. There has been a mass exodus of people,” she asserted.
Aisha Jumwa has been a close confidant of the DP after she fell out with ODM party leader, Raila Odinga. On many occasions, the vocal MP has accompanied Ruto during his nationwide tours.
The sentiments by the UDA aspirants barely come days after Ruto convened a crisis meeting with his troops at the Coast after one of his allies was attacked.
In his statement, UDA Coast Regional Coordinator, Mohamed Tenge, stated that he was attacked by some party members who believed that he was hiding some of the money that was donated by the DP.
At the time, the coordinator stated that the attack was as a result of wrangles that were within the party adding that some MPS were misleading the DP.
“It is such a pity that those of us who have used our resources to popularise the party in the Coast are being mistreated by those who have hijacked it for selfish reasons,” stated Tenge.
