A section of aggrieved United Democratic Alliance (UDA) aspirants staged a demonstration outside the Hustler Center in Nairobi to oppose what they termed as the extortionist nature of the party.

The aspirants, who lost in the party’s nominations held on Thursday, April 14, accused the party of setting high complaints filing fees to discourage them from disputing the outcomes.

According to UDA, an aspirant disputing the outcomes of a presidential nomination is required to pay Kshs 500,000 for their complaint to be heard by the party’s Election and Nomination Disputes Resolution Committee.

UDA Electoral Dispute Resolution Committee members hold a press conference on Friday, April 16, 2022.

COURTESY UDA

Gubernatorial aspirants challenging the nomination outcomes are supposed to pay Kshs 200,000 while senatorial, Woman Rep, and parliamentary complainants must part with Kshs 100,000.

For aspirants contesting the Member of County Assembly (MCA) nomination results, their disputes will only be heard once they pay the Kshs 20,000 filing fees. 

The demonstrating aspirants sought an audience with the party’s National Election Board (NEB) led by chairman Anthony Mwaura or the party leader, Deputy President William Ruto.

“We want to see the NEB team. The fees they are imposing are too high and we know this is to discourage us from pursuing what falls within our rights,” one aspirant opined.

“Even filing a case at the High Court or any other court is not this expensive. The party should make the fees reasonable so that every aspirant who feels cheated can file their complaint and be heard,” he added.

The aggrieved aspirants further claimed that the nomination exercise was marred with irregularities, fraud and voter bribery.

“A lot of people came to vote but their names were not in the register of voters. The presiding officers then said they will use the 2017 register but the names were also not in that register,” one aspirant argued.

Their prayers to meet NEB were futile as the board made it clear that they had to comply with the set procedure, including payment of the complaints fees before they are heard. 

The Thursday exercise was largely peaceful and smooth but was contested in areas such as Bomet, Kiambu, Embu and parts of Nakuru.

In Bomet, former Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Secretary General, Wilson Sossion, argued that the exercise was fraudulent, claiming the existence of pre-marked ballot papers even before the date of the nominations.

UDA Electoral Dispute Resolution Committee members hold a press conference on Friday, April 16, 2022.

COURTESY UDA

In Embu, a lorry transporting nomination material to Mt Kenya East region was ransacked and the material set on fire by supporters who accused the party of planning to rig out some aspirants.

The party, however, disputed the claims with the Deputy President terming the exercise a 99 per cent success, adding that even the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has never achieved what UDA did. By Mumbi Mutuko, Kenyans.co.ke