UDA Presidential candidate William Ruto has arrived at the historic Tononoka for his final mega rally.
He is accompanied by Mombasa gubernatorial aspirant Sarai Omar and Former Nairobi governor Mike Sonko Mbuvi who joined the party after he was blocked to run for Mombasa gubernatorial seat.
Other leaders present include ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi, governors Amason Kingi (Kilifi), Salim Mvurya (Kwale) and Alfred Mutua (Machakos) among many other leaders affiliated with the coalition.
On Thursday morning, a stand-off was witnessed at the venue of the rally after police arrived and tried to stop workers from erecting the main dais.
UDA candidate for Mombasa senatorial race Hamisi Mwaguya, who was at the grounds to supervise the work, was picked by the police officers from the nearby Tononoka police station.
However, this did not stop the workers from continuing to set up the dais, where the leaders will sit during the rally.
After some time, Mwaguya came back and told reporters at the Tononoka grounds that the scheduled rally will continue as planned.
Earlier in the day, DP Ruto cried foul during a press briefing in Nairobi and alleged the State is planning to block him from using the Tononoka grounds.
"This is our final rally in Mombasa and it is a very important one. The kind of excuses they are giving us is that the President is in Mombasa," he said
Ruto said the president’s presence in Mombasa is not a justifiable reason to deny them permission to hold their rally in Mombasa.
"How ridiculous can that be, and so if the president is in Mombasa, we can't have the meeting at Tononoka? Surely!," Ruto added.
