Deputy President William Ruto says the contentious Political Parties (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was being used by ODM leader Raila Odinga to help him craft an alliance with regional parties in the upcoming general elections, and that the only national party with the muscle to unite all Kenyans was the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), which according to him was supported by 160MPs.
”Because you have reached the end, and you now want to tell us to pass a law to ensure you do not con us again in future, we want to ask you to, first of all, remove the deceit in the proposed law,” Ruto said in Turbo on Wednesday. Adding: ”They have hit the corner. Because they cannot get people to merge with them because they have deceived people in the past, they now want MPs to help them to force coalitions. We have agreed that out party is UDA. This is a national party that promotes the unity of all Kenyans. Already, there are 160 MPs who are supporting UDA. We are aware of a scheme to promote regional parties to divide Kenyans.”
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The deputy president also took issue with a proposal in the new bill to give the Registrar of Political Parties (RPP) powers to determine how parties run their nominations.
”Let us not bring in an imperial Registrar of Political Parties. Let that office not micromanage parties. Let parties be free to do their nominations,” he continued.
The Bill which also gives the Registrar of Political Parties powers to share out state funds among individual parties within a coalition based on their respective contributions to a presidential candidate’s votes has faced intense opposition from the DP and his allies who feel it gives Raila Odinga an upper hand in the 2022 succession politics.
