Deputy President William Ruto’s UDA party could splash as much as Sh500 million on nominations to prevent fury and fallouts that could damage his outfit.
On Monday, Ruto announced he will personally be taking charge of the April 14 primaries as UDA unveiled an elaborate programme to deliver what they say will be free, fair and credible nominations.
Issuing direct tickets has triggered a storm in Raila Odinga's ODM party. The DP wants to portray his outfit as more democratic and responsive to members' wishes.
Under the plan, UDA will hire 100,000 polling station clerks, 128 constituency presiding officers and 47 returning officers to manage next Thursday's high-stakes countrywide primaries.
The party has printed 45 million ballot papers for the internal party face-off in at least 12 counties, 128 constituencies and 892 wards.
UDA will hold primaries for governor in 12 counties, for Senate in 19 counties and for Woman Representative in 27 counties.
If each polling station, clerk is paid Sh2,000 for the day-long exercise, the party will spend Sh200 million on this cadre of staff alone.
Ballot papers could also cost as much as Sh50 million, depending on embedded security features. This does not include the cost of secure ballot boxes.
Then there's transport costs to deliver ballot boxes and ballot papers across the country.
UDA will also hire security personnel to secure polling stations.
Given indications the party intends to use technology to transmit results, the costs will soar.
UDA has brokered consensus on candidates in other regions that will be excluded from the day-long nominations marathon.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Ruto assured aspirants he has the necessary experience and knowledge to run credible nominations.
“We know too well the importance of the exercise and, as I told members, I will personally supervise to ensure the exercise is above board. So every member gets an opportunity to be voted for and to win or lose fairly,” Ruto said at his Karen residence.
This is the first time UDA will be running party nominations, with Ruto facing a tough reality check following his alleged role in the bungling of Jubilee primaries in 2017.
President Uhuru Kenyatta and a group of Jubilee leaders have been accusing Ruto of deliberately manipulating the Jubilee nominations to hand his allies tickets, especially in the Mt Kenya region.
Some of the aspirants who lost nominations in Mt Kenya and Rift Valley were consigned to political oblivion by the strong Jubilee wave despite competing as independents.
Ruto on Monday reiterated he has been supervising the printing of ballot papers in the last two days. He said he will remain in control of the process to the very end to ensure it is foolproof.
“We will ensure free, fair and democratic nominations,” Ruto said.
The DP last month said UDA had registered seven million members countrywide, putting it among the top political parties, including ODM and Jubilee.
The Registrar of Political Parties had registered a total of 24 million members in all political parties by March 26.
The party has attracted thousands of aspirants in its strongholds of Mt Kenya and Rift Valley.
The regions are expected to witness high-stakes competition among aspirants seeking UDA tickets.
Rivalry is intense because securing the tickets for some aspirants on UDA turf would almost guarantee them victory in the August 9 general election.
The party will not hold nominations in some regions where there has been consensus among aspirants who have agreed to support their opponents.
In the last few weeks, Ruto has intensified consensus-building among aspirants for seats in strategic regions.
He has brokered deals for governor in Narok, Wajir, Kakamega, Kirinyaga, Kisii, Nyeri, Isiolo and Marsabit.
On Monday, UDA National Elections Board chairman Anthony Mwaura said the party was cognisant of the consensus efforts.
Transmission will mirror transmission of national elections results and will serve as a test run for our elections transmission infrastructure
"Kindly note that in some areas there are candidates who are not opposed or aspirants opted for consensus and agreed on viable candidates. Therefore, no nomination will be carried out in these areas," he said.
The Star has established that results from the polling stations will be transmitted simultaneously to the constituency and county tallying centres through a seamless digital platform run by UDA.
The results will then be relayed to the National UDA Command Centre at the Hustler National Centre where the DP and the elections board will be based.
“The transmission will mirror the transmission of the national elections results and will serve as a test run for our elections transmission infrastructure,” a senior UDA official said.
During next week's primaries, UDA will rely on the membership register from the Registrar of Political Parties to ensure only bona fide members participate in the nominations.
However, the nominations will be a major test for Ruto who is facing a dilemma over his close allies competing against each for nominations, especially in Rift Valley and Mt Kenya.
The DP has previously maintained that there will be no room for direct tickets in UDA, saying aspirants will have to face off at the ballot.
On Monday, Ruto introduced candidates for senator and governor in Kisii county for the Kenya Kwanza Alliance following consensus talks
At his Karen residence, Ruto unveiled Ezekiel Machogu (Nyaribari Masaba MP) as the sole Kenya Kwanza governor candidate for Kisii.
Charles Matoki dropped his gubernatorial bid via the ANC party to back Machogu of UDA.
(Edited by V. Graham)
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