UDA Secretary General Cleophas Malala has urged the Luyha community in the Western Kenya region to join UDA.
Speaking in Kakamega on Sunday, Malala said few people were benefitting at the expense of the whole community.
Malala alleged that residents have been fooled for a long time by forming local parties that can never propel the community to State House.
"This time round we must prioritise our community. We must be strategic. The only way Luhyas will get to the top is by joining a national party. I want to urge the Luhya community to join the national party UDA," he said.
“We have parties in the Kenya Kwanza coalition that cannot produce the President. We shall be lying to one another that parties like ANC or Ford Kenya can produce the Kenyan president.”
Malala has been visiting counties to recruit members to join the UDA party.
Among places he has toured for the party’s recruitment drives include opposition strongholds in Kisumu, Machakos, and Kisii.
In a similar exercise in Narok on June 11, he said the party targets to recruit 15 million members across the country.
Former Bungoma governor Wycliffe Wangamati is the latest politician to leave Azimio for UDA.
Wangamati served as Bungoma governor between 2017 and 2022.
In 2022, he vied for the same position on former CS Eugene Wamalwa’s party DAP-K but he was defeated by Kenneth Lusaka of Ford Kenya.
Addressing the UDA party delegates at his Makunga home in Kakamega on Sunday, Malala said that UDA party influence in the Western region has received a major boost after Wangamati joined the party.