Deputy President William Ruto's UDA party has suffered a blow after 180 members of the party in Nyaribari Chache in Kisii county defected to ODM.
The defectors who include the youth, women and MCA aspirants have thrown their weight behind the ODM MP candidate James Kenani and vowed to campaign for Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition party.
"I'm really excited about the fact that they have joined us ditching their own party that they have been supporting and by extension the parliamentary candidate," Kenani said.
He said the change of allegiance will affect not just the MP seat but the MCA positions as the defectors will now back the candidature of ODM candidates in Azimio.
The group said they resorted to defect to ODM owing to Kenani's development record and will to help the underprivileged.
"He once served as CDF chairman and we saw the good things he did so we don't see anything that will stop him from continuing with the same spirit," a representative of the group said.
Kenani will face among others UDA candidate Zaheer Jhanda at the August 9 polls.
