The party also announced that Deputy Prime Minister Mudavadi will present himself for nominations as UDF’s presidential candidate on Friday/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 2 – The United Democratic Forum has formally severed ties with The National Alliance and United Republican Party this afternoon.
The party Secretary General Dan Ameyo made the pronouncement Wednesday at the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties.
“We have signed off our consent to the dissolution of that agreement and as a result, as a party, we have no further obligations in respect of that coalition.”
The party also announced that Deputy Prime Minister Mudavadi will present himself for nominations as UDF’s presidential candidate on Friday.
The rift between the political parties began after they failed to agree on a how the Jubilee presidential candidate should be selected.
TNA and URP have rejected the Jubilee Coalition termination agreement presented by The United Democratic Forum to the Registrar of Political Parties.
TNA Secretary General Onyango Oloo termed it unnecessary as UDF was not ratified as a coalition partner by his party’s governing council to begin with.
He explained that the intention to enter a coalition with UDF was appended to the coalition agreement entered into by TNA and URP and submitted to the Registrar on December 3.
The addendum, Oloo continued, was not ratified by the TNA governing council and therefore not legally binding.
“In strict legal sense there was no coalition instrument that was executed between URP, TNA and UDF.”
Oloo added that the Jubilee coalition remains intact and would not be affected by the formalisation of UDF’s exit.
“We wanted to end the relationship harmoniously but our brothers in UDF are not interested in that. What they have demanded is that we dissolve the entire coalition.”
“If you accept to be married as a second wife, the first marriage need not necessarily break down.”
The Jubilee Coalition Political Council that was chaired by Mandera Central MP Abdikadir Mohammed later insisted that there is no bad blood between TNA, URP and TNA.
Council and TNA party member Aden Duale, Dujis MP, added TNA and URP would also file legal paperwork with the registrar on the exit of UDF on Thursday.
“You look for the document that our parties will submit with the registrar tomorrow.”
Ndaragwa MP and UDF party member Jeremiah Kioni reiterated that the parties had not turned against each other and are working toward the same goal of preventing bad governance.
“Our enemy remains the same. That is fighting bad governance that can come to the stage through other channels.”
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