Malala issues stern warning after UDA meeting ends prematurely over chaos

UDA secretary general Cleophas Malala was forced to end the UDA delegates meeting in Mombasa after supporters of Nyali MP Mohammed Ali and EALA MP Hassan Omar clashed.

The meeting attended by the UDA secretary General was taking place at the Government Training Institute (GTI) Mombasa and was meant to launch the party membership drive in Mombasa.

However, chaos ensued soon after Omar made his way into the auditorium as crowds tried to block Ali from accessing the venue.

This forced police to lob teargas canisters to separate the rowdy supporters of the two MPs forcing both delegates, leaders and media to scamper for safety.

Addressing the media after the fracas, Malala said that the party will investigate the matter and will summon the leaders to get to the bottom of the matter.

“We will take action against people bringing violence to the party. We want to find police who lobbed teargas in a hall that was peaceful. We must have decorum, we will not condone violence in the party,” said Malala.

Malala said that they had printed serialized cards to allow delegates to enter the venue, but were shocked to discover that some individuals had accessed the venue using fake cards.

The SG said that he held a meeting Friday evening with Mombasa leadership to plan for the meeting and they had agreed that it will run peacefully.

The meeting, he said, was attended by both Omar and Ali together with Mombasa UDA nominated senator Miraj Abdilahi, presidential advisor Karisa Nzai among other Mombasa UDA leaders.

“We have, however, discovered that there are two factions here, one led by Omar and another by Ali. That is democracy and as a party, we encourage democracy. Let everyone campaign to register more members for the party but let us be peaceful, what we have witnessed here today is not good,” Malala said.

Omar accused Ali of printing the fake delegates' cards to bring in more supporters to heckle him down at the meeting.

“I had 300 cards for my delegates, and my colleague (Ali) had about 700 given by I don’t know who of which a majority were fake. We don’t know the reason for the chaos but we were here to sell the agenda of the president and the plans that he has for Kenyans,” said Omar.

The party is set to hold grassroots elections in August.

The Mombasa UDA chairman position has attracted three candidates, Ali Kitaka and Mutungwa Wambua allied to Omar and Mombasa UDA coordinator Samir allied to Ali.

“I am telling here that we will have elections and every party member has the right to vie for any seat within the party. I guarantee you that nobody will be favoured,” Omar said.

However, Ali accused Omar of disrupting the meeting and using his party position as the national UDA vice chairman to intimidate party members to align with him or else he will deny them the party certificate.

He said that he is the one who introduced Omar to the president and that he was in UDA before him and as such he should slow down with his advances.

“I want to remind him we formed UDA before I invited him to the party, I am the one who introduced him to President William Ruto. Let him cool down his heels, the race is yet to begin and when I descend, he will not handle the heat,” said Ali.

Both Omar and Ali have hinted at vying for the Mombasa gubernatorial seat in 2027.