Aspirant demands Sh500,000 refund from UDA in row over Lusaka

An aspirant for the Bungoma governor’s seat has demanded back Sh500,000 he paid as nomination fees to the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), after learning that the party prefers Ford Kenya’s Ken Lusaka for the position.

Zachariah Baraza wanted to unseat Governor Wycliffe Wangamati in the August General Election on a UDA ticket but was shocked to learn that UDA had other plans and he didn’t feature in them.

UDA had opted to back Mr Lusaka under a Kenya Kwanza arrangement.

It appears his fate was sealed at a meeting on Monday with UDA top officials, who asked him to shelve his ambitions to pave the way for Mr Lusaka.

Consequently, Mr Baraza has given UDA seven days to refund the cash, saying he wants to use it to develop dilapidated schools across Bungoma’s nine constituencies.

The disgruntled politician announced he would run for governor as an independent candidate.

The politician’s protests came as five MPs allied to UDA in Bungoma vowed to support Mr Lusaka.

Politicians under Kenya Kwanza, led by Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa, said they had also agreed in Kakamega to have former senator Boni Khalwale, who was seeking a UDA ticket to run for governor, to step down for ANC’s Cleophas Malala.

But Mr Baraza reminded Deputy President William Ruto about his promise that UDA, which he heads, would not dish out direct tickets and would allow ‘hustlers’ to choose their candidates.

Predominantly pro-Ruto

“But right now leadership is being arranged from Ruto's Karen home,” he protested.

The politician said areas presumed to be predominantly pro-Ruto had attracted tens of candidates for various seats but no one was pushing them to the negotiating table. He wondered why the DP wanted to impose a governor on Bungoma voters.

He said Dr Ruto had promised that no preferred leaders would be imposed on voters “in boardrooms and yet that is exactly what he is doing by imposing Mr Lusaka to Bungoma residents".

“If the DP knew that he was going to back Mr Lusaka and ask me to shelve my bid, he should not have asked me to pay the Sh500,000 for nomination fees," he lamented.

He accused the DP of preaching water and drinking wine as demonstrated through his political actions.

Mr Baraza said UDA was busy dismissing Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya Alliance presidential candidate Raila Odinga as a State project but the party was imposing many projects in Bungoma including Mr Lusaka.

He said the Sh500,000 would find better use in purchasing cement for schools.

The aspirant delivered 50 bags of cement to Khelela Primary School in Tongaren constituency on Tuesday, and a further Sh10,000 to improve the school’s toilets.

He decried the poor state of schools in Tongaren, saying he had seen about 18 of them that need urgent help.

“Education being a key factor in the development of any society, I will remain committed to improving the learning conditions in this county (by upgrading) infrastructure," he said.

On health, Mr Baraza assured Tongaren constituents that he would upgrade their health centre into a well-equipped facility with equipment like CT scan and X-ray machines and surgical theatres.

Poor roads

He also promised that needy and vulnerable residents would get NHIF cards to help them access treatment if he is elected governor in August.

He also promised to tarmac the Sikhendu-Naitiri-Nzoia road so that farmers can take their farm produce to markets more easily. He said the area had been neglected by the Wangamati administration and had poor roads.

"Kanduyi constituency only has a road being constructed to the tune of Sh1.5 billion, a stadium at Sh3 billion, a hospital maternity wing at Sh300 million while other regions have nothing to be proud of," he said.

He urged the public to ignore Ford Kenya party leader Moses Wetang’ula, who is pushing for Mr Lusaka to be elected governor, saying unlike the Senate Speaker, he is not anyone’s project.

"In 2013, Lusaka was Mr Wetang’ula’s project that bought wheelbarrows at an exaggerated Sh109,000 each,” he said.

“They procured musician Kanda Bongoman at Sh20 million just to entertain themselves while wananchi were sleeping hungry. They also used Sh100 million to construct a wall around a hospital instead of buying the much-needed drugs."

In 2017, he said, little-known Mr Wangamati was again Mr Wetang’ula’s project and bought Sh100 jerricans at Sh10,000 each and hired goons to physically attack people in the county.