A number of aspirants who were locked out by their political parties during primaries in Naivasha are running as independents on August 9.
The aspirants led by former Naivasha MP John Kihagi accused UDA of preaching water and drinking wine in the just-ended nominations.
Others include Viwandani MCA Eric Gichuki who was locked out of the Naivasha parliamentary seat and his rival Ndegwa Nguthiru handed a direct ticket by Jubilee.
The seat for the vast constituency has now attracted more than 10 aspirants, five of them being independent candidates.
Over the weekend, the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal directed UDA to hold a repeat in the Naivasha primaries after MP Jane Kihara was awarded the nomination certificate.
However, the party through an interview, decided to award Kihara the certificate, angering Kihagi, who immediately decided to run as an independent.
In a statement, Kihagi called on his supporters to ignore the UDA ticket saying that he had decided to go independent.
He said that despite the tribunal calling for repeat primaries in the constituency, the UDA nominations board had ignored the directive.
“The UDA seemed unwilling to call for repeat polls as directed by the court and I urge my supporters to ignore that party ticket, which we had won and denied,” he said.
On his part, Viwandani MCA Gichuki blamed his woes on some senior Jubilee leaders who were not keen to see youthful aspirants enter the race.
Gichuki who is keen on the Naivasha parliamentary seat said that soul searching he had decided to independent way.
“A blessing comes your way regardless of who tries to stop it and we have been cleared to run as an independent candidate in the coming elections,” he said.
Earlier, ODM handed its parliamentary certificate to Antony Rebo who is a security expert, further crowding the Naivasha seat.
“We have now been cleared for the race and shall hit the ground running as we seek to change the leadership style of Naivasha,” he said.
Trouble in UDA started two weeks ago after Kihagi controversially won in the primaries only for the party’s nomination board to reverse the decision due to some 'irregularities'.
Kihara was awarded the certificate instead forcing Kihagi to seek redress at the tribunal which directed the party to hold the primaries again.
(Edited by V. Graham)
