Azimio la Umoja principal, Ali Roba, of the United Democratic Movement (UDM) party, has leaked letters revealing the reason for ditching the Raila Odinga-led outfit for president-elect William Ruto's Kenya Kwanza.
Through a series of letters, Roba exposed how his party was sidelined in critical meetings and in making decisions on the coalition's operations.
In one of the letters, Roba wrote to the Azimio National Council, which is chaired by President Uhuru Kenyatta, complaining that they had not been consulted when the council was being constituted.
"We did not participate in the exercise of the nomination of the officials and we register our dismay and exclusion from the same. Such appointments should be consultative, democratic and transparent," the UDM letter read in part.
"The party raises concerns that it is not being engaged in critical meetings and decisions which bear impact on the coalition. The party is yet to formally receive a copy of the coalition agreement documents signed by all parties to the coalition."
Following the concerns, UDM further wrote another letter to the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties led by Anne Nderitu.
On April 29, Nderitu directed Azimio to furnish UDM with a copy of the coalition agreement and other relevant documents.
However, according to Roba, Azimio did not honour the directives from the Registrar of Political Parties which informed the party's decision to join Kenya Kwanza.
"Long standing unresolved issues plus gate keepers feeling threatened by the presence of partners which spilt over into elections. You can’t coerce people into loyalty. The engagement was replaced with chest-thumping," Roba's statement dated Thursday, August 18, read.
Following the fallout, Roba led a delegation of UDM politicians who were elected under his party to join Kenya Kwanza under president-elect, William Ruto.
The outgoing Mandera governor and his contingent were welcomed by Ruto at his official residence in Karen.
"We salute the United Democratic Movement (UDM) leadership for abandoning Azimio La Umoja and joining Kenya Kwanza," Ruto stated.
UDM clinched a total of 45 seats in the just-concluded General Election. Among them are Mandera gubernatorial seat which went to Mohamed Adan and Wajir's that was won by Khalif Mohamud Ali.
Roba won the Mandera County senatorial seat on the party ticket while Abass Sheikh Mohammed bagged the seat in Wajir County under the same party.
With the seven UDM MPs, GDDP's Caleb Mule (Kangundo) and the 10 independent candidates joining Ruto's camp, the alliance's representation now sums up to 180 in the National Assembly. This accounts for more than half of the 337 seats available.
