President William Ruto directed his deputy Rigathi Gachagua to solve an impasse within the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), Nairobi wing.
The Head of State issued the directive during a crisis meeting at State House on Saturday, June 8.
According to a statement by UDA, Gachagua’s role is to ensure that unity is restored between the two camps that are at loggerheads on the process of grassroots elections.
The DP will as a result lead in negotiations that are expected to lead to a political settlement.
“Nairobi’s polls can be held on the same day as the other two counties,” the President directed his deputy.
In Nairobi, two camps have been at loggerheads with one allied to Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja while the other is linked to Embakasi North MP James Gakuya, both of whom are seeking the UDA chairmanship in Nairobi County.
In one of the elections that took place two weeks ago, supporters of both camps clashed at a venue in one of the constituencies.
During the State House meeting, President Ruto also directed National Elections Board (NEB) Chairman Anthony Mwaura to cancel grassroots elections in Narok and West Pokot counties.
He explained that the elections would be put on hold due to pending disputes that were filed in court.
“Where the courts have issued orders stopping the election, we have to postpone. We must respect court orders”, Ruto added.
The Party Leader also put to rest the contentious issue of the composition of the National Delegates Conference (NDC), with NED strongly adopting the formula on sharing of delegates on a county basis depending on the presidential vote that each county returned to the UDA presidential candidate in the 2022 elections.
This process will see counties that garnered over 50 percent produce 20 delegates each to the NDC, with others below that mark sharing other slots on a pro-rata basis.
The Head of State also gave UDA the go-ahead to carry grassroots elections in 13 more counties.
