Embakasi North MP James Gakuya has threatened to lead a mass walkout from UDA if he loses Nairobi County elections on Friday.
Gakuya, who enjoys the backing of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, is seeking to be elected the Nairobi County UDA branch chairman.
However, Gakuya faces an uphill task to capture the seat after his allies were trounced at the constituency elections held last week.
“If I lose this seat, it will be obvious that we have no place in this Party as a community. We shall go ahead and join a new party,” Gakuya said during an interview with Kameme FM on Tuesday.
Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja’s camp romped to victory, clinching 240 out of the 340 UDA delegate seats in the grassroots polls across 16 constituencies.
Starehe Constituency elections were called off due to pockets of skirmishes.
Last week, some 1,700 delegates from all 85 wards went to the ballot to pick Constituency leaders who will in turn vote in County officials.
Ahead of the Friday encounter, Gakuya on Tuesday said he would ditch the ruling party and lead his community into another party if he is defeated.
Drumming up support for his bid, Gakuya urged the Kikuyu community in Nairobi to back his bid to become the city’s UDA branch chairman.
“We have been sidelined for long, our people’s houses are being demolished every day,” he said.
However, Gakuya’s remarks could further hurt his bid given that the UDA party enjoys support from across many communities in Nairobi City and not just the Kikuyu ethnic tribe.
The MP claimed that the ongoing demolitions along the Nairobi River are allegedly targeting members of his community.
He urged the Kikuyu voters to pick him as Nairobi UDA branch chairman to reportedly protect their interests.
It is not clear how he would execute his plan since the city's governor will still remain Sakaja even after the polls.
The government is pulling down buildings standing on riparian land across Nairobi City as part of the measures to avert deaths caused by buildings collapsing along the river belts.
The move is also part of a security campaign to save lives from possible floods like the ones that happened in Maai Mahiu a few weeks ago.
Sakaja, who met elected delegates on Monday, urged them to shun divisive politics which he said would impede the city’s growth.
“Let us not let tribal politics divide us. We need to create an environment for everyone to thrive regardless of their tribe,” Sakaja stated.
He met elected constituency delegates from Roysambu, Kasarani, Mathare, Ruaraka, Westlands, and Langata constituencies.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiku has cautioned politicians against ethnic mobilisation, reiterating President William Ruto’s unity message during Saturday’s Madaraka Day celebrations.
“The mobilisation and incitement of ethnic communities against each other is a barbaric, cruel and dangerous political misadventure that poses grave danger to our Country’s future,” Kindiki said.
Ruto had warned leaders advancing ethnic-based politics saying Kenya will not return to its past.
“We will never go back to the politics of ethnicity, we will never go back to politics of personalities. We will never go back to politics where people are not in the centre,” he said remarks delivered outside his prepared speech.
