UDA aspirants for various positions in Mombasa were Tuesday taken through a sensitisation exercise over the upcoming grassroots elections on December 9.
In Mombasa, 1,200 aspirants have registered to vie for various positions.
UDA Coast regional manager Khalif Abdi said the number could go up as the registration window is still open until November 17.
Already, aspirants in Lamu, Tana River, Kilifi and Kwale counties have been taken through the sensitisation.
On Wednesday, it was the turn for Taita Taveta county members to be taken through the exercise.
“We want to take them through the whole process from the beginning to the end, how the elections will be conducted and what is required of them,” Abdi said.
He urged aspirants to go out and register more members.
“Every member of UDA will be involved from the beginning to the end. The process is supposed to give the member the rare opportunity to elect officials of the party. The member is the boss here,” he said.
Abdi said they have put in place measures to ensure no fracas is witnessed at any of the polling station.
This is after a UDA delegates meeting in June ended prematurely after two factions of the party, one led by national vice chairperson Hassan Omar and the other by Nyali MP Mohammed Ali, clashed.
“That was a friendly match. It was not supposed to happen. UDA is a beautiful girl and it was just men who are of age fighting over the beautiful girl. That was the only issue there. It was not anything personal. It will not happen again,” Abdi assured.
He said UDA is a family and anything that happens within a family will be resolved within the family.
UDA Mombasa county coordinator Samir Omar asked Mombasa’s residents to be keen and ensure the polls are peaceful.
“We are all one family. In the end, the one elected will be a UDA leader and not a leader of any opposition party,” Omar said.
He also urged the various aspirants to take wins and losses with grace urging those who lose in the elections to support those who win.
“At the end of the day, we are all looking for President William Ruto’s victory and to push his bottom-up ideology forward,” he said.
Youth Fund chairperson Fatma Barayan said she is happy with the turnout of the youth who are vying for various positions.
She urged all registered UDA members to turn up in large numbers on December 9 to build the party.
“As Abdi said, this is a friendly match and I am happy UDA in Mombasa continues to grow with each passing day,” Barayan, who is vying for the Mombasa county women league representative position, said.
She said the polls will empower the grassroots people to decide their future.
Ibrahim “Magufuli” Dube, who is eyeing the UDA Tononoka ward chairperson position, said Mombasa should exercise peace and demonstrate they are a party of peace and development.
“I ask UDA youth in Mombasa to show the world that they are a peace-loving, development-oriented lot,” he said.
He said it is only through peace that President Ruto will be able to steady the ship and allow the economy to recover and grow at a fast rate.
“And you have seen that already, the caring Kenya Kwanza government has already heard the cry of wananchi and reduced the prices of various services like ID acquisition. This shows that President Ruto cares about the hustler at the grassroots,” Magufuli said.
Abdi said they will use the universal suffrage route at the polling centres where 20 delegates will be elected from each polling centre.
The 20 will represent seven categories of leaders including youth representative, women representative, persons with disabilities representative, Small and Micro Enterprises (SME) representative, among others.
The 20 from each polling centre in a ward will then form the ward congress.
“For example, Tononoka ward has 11 polling centres. These polling centres will each produce 20 delegates. So there will be 220 delegates who will form the Tononoka ward congress,” Abdi elaborated.
A sitting UDA MCA will join this ward congress.
The ward congress will then elect 20 delegates to form a constituency congress.
So, because Mvita constituency has five wards, there will be 100 delegates to form the Mvita constituency congress.
A sitting UDA MP will join this congress.
The constituency congress will then elect 20 delegates to form the county congress.
So, because Mombasa has six constituencies, there will be 120 delegates elected to form the Mombasa county congress.
A sitting UDA woman representative, senator or governor will join this congress.
Then later, a national election will be allowed.
The December 9 elections will be to elect polling centre delegates.
“Then we will call for election for congresses in quick succession,” Abdi said.