• Wafula sais each candidate should be allowed to seek votes from the electorate.
• DAP-K woman representative candidate Phanice Khatundi said each candidate should be allowed to look for votes from the electorate who are the best referees.
Politicians allied to Azimio in Trans Nzoia have told off their presidential candidate Raila Odinga who has proposed that the coalition fields a single candidate for each seat at the polls.
Saboti MP candidate David Wafula Lazaro of DAP-K said he is firmly in the race to win back the seat he lost to MP Caleb Amisi.
"Any pressure from those desiring that I quit the race for another candidate will yield nothing. I'll be on the ballot on August 9," he said.
Wafula said there are calls that he withdraws from the race in favour of Amisi.
Each candidate, he said, should be allowed to seek votes from the electorate.
"There is a need for democracy to prevail and any effort to force unpopular candidates down the throats of voters leaves democracy to escape through the window," he said.
Wafula joins a long list of candidates from Jubilee and DAP-K whose political lives remain in limbo following the proposal to have them step down in favour of perceived stronger candidates.
DAP-K woman representative candidate Phanice Khatundi said each candidate should be allowed to look for votes from the electorate who are the best referees.
"These other games are aimed at undermining candidates from other parties and must stop," she said.
Khatundi is fighting for the seat alongside former St Teresa’s Girls High School principal Susan Nelima Murumba of Jubilee.
She said she will not withdraw from the race in favour of anyone.
"We are supporting Raila Odinga for the presidency and George Natembeya for governor. The rest of the seats should be left open for all candidates to fairly compete," Khatundi said.
Former Maendeleo ya Wanawake national treasurer Naomi Kemunto is the ODM candidate for the woman representative seat. She said she cannot step down in favour of any candidate.
"My eyes are fixed on the August 9 election and the winner will be determined by voters. I entered the race to win and not step down, give me a break," she said.
Kemunto said voters know what they want.
Her remarks come four days after Azimio-One Kenya presidential campaign manager Moses Khaoya and his deputy Esther Koli told DAP-K to shelve interests in Saboti constituency and the Senate in favour of ODM candidates.
Khaoya said the coalition risks losing a majority of seats if unpopular candidates refuse to step down in favour of those seen as front-runners for ward, MP, woman representative and Senate seats.
"We must agree to walk together as a team to win against the emerging wave posed by candidates from Kenya Kwanza," he said.
Their proposal elicited reactions from DAP-K supporters, who said the only seats they had agreed on were that of the president and Trans Nzoia governor.
Endebess independent candidate Pius Gumo also resisted calls for him to step down in favour of Awin Sasia Chebyagan of DAP-K.
"I fully support Raila and Natembeya as president and governor respectively. I will not step down for anyone in the MP race," he said.
A similar deal by the Azimio team to have DAP-K Trans Nzoia secretary Patrick Simiyu to step down in favour of Jubilee deputy secretary general Joshua Kutuny in Cherangany flopped.
"Kutuny has been our MP and should retire honourably. He should reciprocate our hospitality and support by stepping down for Simiyu’’, James Wasike, a DAP member, said.
He said it was undemocratic for someone to make such proposals.
"Simiyu is firmly in the race for Cherangany MP and we will not allow him to step down in favour of Kutuny," he said.
Edited by A.N