• Maangi has already signalled that he was on his way out of UDA.
• The official defection date for the deputy governor is already being worked out, ODM party officials have said.
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A suspected move by UDA to deny Kisii Deputy Governor Joash Maangi the ticket to run for governor is said to be the source of recent defections from the outfit.
Maangi has already signalled that he is on his way out of the outfit. He is set to join ODM.
The official defection date by the deputy governor is being worked out, ODM party officials have said.
Maangi will be following in the footsteps of Kitutu Chache South MP Richard Onyonka and his nemesis and former ODM party branch chair Samuel Omwando.
The two have been received by Orange party boss Raila Odinga.
In Kisii, a UDA official said they fear more exodus from the party in the coming days.
The defections, the official said, appear to have left Deputy President William Ruto's outfit limping in the county.
On Tuesday, Maangi appeared cagey about his move, only saying the defection was 'neither here nor there'.
"Everything shall be clear as the days go by. Right now it is still too early to say much. All I want you to know, however, is that this is a political season with high stakes and defections are a constant normal," the deputy governor said.
A source privy to the ongoings said Maangi has already cut communications with UDA.
"It is not a question of whether the deputy governor has ceased to be part of our party's deliberations as we move towards the general election," the party official, who declined to be named, said.
An aspirant who attended a party meeting at a Kisii hotel on Thursday last week said Maangi has already left UDA. "He is not on our menu of discussions anymore. He has left," the aspirant said.
The deputy governor's departure, said the aspirant, has more to do with South Mugirango MP Omingo Magara being preferred by the party.
Nyatichi Mogire, one of the youths who defected to ODM alongside Omwando, said Maangi may have felt betrayed.
"Being the deputy governor he deserved to carry the party flag all the way and not Magara who has made a string of unsuccessful attempts at the ballot," she told the Star on Tuesday morning.
Nyatichi said there exist too many parallel camps within UDA, making it difficult to agree on the way forward.
"There were about four camps each trying to outshine the other, funding became a problem and the house had to fall," she said.
The divisions were so intense they forced others to leave, she added. Nyatichi said with hostility building up each UDA adherent was told to be an agent wherever they were.
"The deputy president has already resigned to fate that the seat of governor and senator are already a long shot and thus the need for each to fight for themselves. With this confusion, we reasoned that moving out was best for some of us," she told the Star.
Magara will square it out with aspirants Simba Arati, Ezekiel Machogu, Sam Ongeri, Manson Nyamweya and Rachel Otundo.
It will be the third attempt for the seat for Magara.
Edited by A.N