Leaders from Nyeri county have opposed plans by the UDA to create three deputy party leader positions, saying it is a scheme to undermine Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
President William Ruto is the United Democratic Alliance's party leader with Gachagua as the deputy party leader owing to their positions.
But the party wants to have three deputy party leaders to be elected during polls planned for next month.
However, leaders from Nyeri who are affiliated Gachagua, are reading malice in the move and have expressed concerns that the proposal is aimed at relegating the deputy President from the primary roles of the party.
The leaders have now vowed to oppose the move saying it will disadvantage the Mt Kenya region that they termed a major shareholder in the President Ruto-led government.
Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga said they will not sit back and allow some individuals to water down the position of the deputy party leader.
“Such a proposal is an insult to our region and cannot pass. We want the party constitution to conform to the constitution of the republic of Kenya.”
Should the proposal sail through, Kahiga said the government risks finding itself in a situation similar to the one that faced the Jubilee regime, in which top leaders were not seeing eye to eye.
“I hope Ruto who was in a toxic relationship with the former president, will not end up in such a situation.”
“But I have learnt that when one is brought up in a violent relationship, they end up meting violence on others,” the governor said.
He said the Kenya Kwanza government was built based on mutual trust, and that any attempts to renege the region will be met with opposition.
Nyeri Senator Wahome Wamatinga said creation of the extra deputy leader’s positions will result in duplication of roles and create several centres of power.
He said the government structure must be mirrored in the party leadership structure, adding that the positions may result in scramble for power.
“The aim of strengthening the party should be to ensure its structures are strong enough to stand for generations. It should not be used to settle certain political scores.”
He underscored the need to stop 2032 general election political alignments and focus on serving the electorate.
He said the narrative that Gachagua should leave politics with the retirement of President Ruto is being pushed by some leaders from the party, and has manifested in the creation of the positions to undermine him.
Mukurweini MP John Kaguchia said apart from having one deputy party leader, they are pushing for the position of the party secretary general since the region ‘is the greatest shareholder of the party’.
But the party’s Legal Affairs secretary Edward Muriu clarified that the party’s constitution provides for the extra slots.
The slots, he said, include Deputy Party leader in charge of policy and strategy, operations and programmers.
Muriu who is also Gatanga MP, said the party intends to give the two other slots to Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi and national assembly speaker Moses Wetang'ula.
“These two leaders are already in the Kenya Kwanza government but we continue to urge them to fold their parties,” he said, noting that Gachagua is higher in the government’s hierarchy and urged political leaders not to be concerned.
But political analyst Prof Gitile Naituli said the power play forming between Gachagua and Mudavadi as they focus on uniting their regions for 2027, could be causing disharmony in the party.
He opined that the push to have member-parties folded could be a ploy to accommodate Kenya Kwanza coalition co-principles in the party, which he said may disadvantage Gachagua despite his higher position.
The analysts urged Mt Kenya leaders to tread carefully as vigorously pushing for their interests may portray them as selfish and result in their isolation in future.
It could be a scheme, he said, to have leaders from other regions push local leaders to push for more positions, so as to seem greedy and justify their future segregation.
The party is set to hold its grassroots elections in the polling centres, wards, constituencies and county levels on December 9.