Deputy President William Ruto’s two trips to the coastal region have failed to cure the widening cracks within UDA.
During Ruto’s six-day tour of the Coast in October, divisions had already emerged within two factions, one led by politician Mohammed Tenge and the other team supporting former Senator Hassan Omar.
Ruto’s tour this week seems to have worsened the already fragile relation after two politicians, Tenge and Sanjeev Agarwal, were roughed up by hired goons on Saturday night.
The two were attending a dinner meeting in which the DP was present in the Nyali area.
Agarwal has declared interest to vie for Mombasa governor on the UDA ticket, which means he will square it out with Omar, who is DP Ruto’s point man in Mombasa.
On Monday afternoon, after Ruto left Mombasa for Kilifi, Tenge spoke for the first time about Saturday’s night events that left him nursing injuries.
Speaking at his Majengo home where he is recuperating, an agitated Tenge strongly condemned the violence meted on him and Agarwal by the goons.
“It is such a pity that those of us who have put in efforts and used our own resources to popularise the party in Mombasa are the ones who are being treated like trash by people who have hijacked the party for their selfish political interests,” Tenge said.
The 47-year-old politician accused his colleagues of colluding with a sitting MP and a UDA national official from Mombasa to block some of them from accessing the DP.
He urged the Director of Criminal Investigations and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to investigate the incident and find out the intention of the attack.
“It is by God’s grace that I’m still alive. I urge the government through the security agencies to investigate this matter and find out their real intention. It seems they wanted to end my life,” he said.
Tenge told the DP to be wary of certain individuals, warning that they were going to cost him support in Mombasa and the region.
He added that they were tainting the image of the party’s intention of uniting the people.
The politician, however, vowed to stay put in the party saying that no amount of beatings, threats or intimidations will push him away from the party.
Medical reports from the Jocham Hospital, where he was treated before being discharged on Sunday, say he sustained bruises in the face, back and abdomen. He also lost a tooth during the fracas.
Tenge, who said he was not vying for any political seat in Mombasa, was accompanied by Mombasa senatorial hopeful Abdulsalam Kassim and Mohammed Bahaidar, a gubernatorial aspirant. Both of whom condemned the incident.
“The goons behind these attacks are close to some three people in question. Since Saturday, none of them has condemned the incident and neither have they called Tenge and Agarwal to see how they are faring,” Kassim said.
He said this is not the first incident, adding it was a clear indication that the UDA nominations in Mombasa were not going to be free and fair as indicated by the DP.
Kassim also questioned why the DP would choose to hold the party’s function in one of the aspirant’s residences.
“You have always said that the party was not going to favour any candidate, but that is not what we are seeing. How could you arrange a party meeting in one of the candidate’s houses?” he posed.
Kassim said if the DP does not crack the whip and address the matter, then they were going to exit the party with their supporters.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)