NAIROBI, Kenya May 31 – There were chaos at a Ford Kenya meeting on Sunday, after members clashed over reports that a section of the leaders had ousted Senator Moses Wetangula as the party leader.
Trouble started when officials announced that Kanduyi MP Wafula Wamunyinyi is the new party leader.
Some of the members present at the meeting at a Nairobi hotel said the changes had not been ratified, and accused leaders from Bungoma of orchestrating the move in a bid to take over the party illegally.
A statement circulated later stated that Wetangula had been ousted for “gross misconduct, moral impropriety and violation of the Party Constitution.”
“The Party leader Hon. Moses Masika Wetangula is hereby dismissed from the position of the party leader on account of gross misconduct, failing to provide inspiring to the party and failing to be the symbol of unity in the party,” part of the statement read, in what was later dismissed by the Bungoma Senator as the work of imposters.
He said he is still the party leader for Ford Kenya.
Wetangula was scheduled to address a press conference from the party headquarters later Sunday.
Political realignments have intensified in the country lately, with a huge meeting convened on Friday by COTU Secretary General Francis Atwoli, at his Kajiado residence, where he hosted dozens of Luhya leaders to foster unity.
Wetangula and Amani National Congress leader Musalia Mudavadi–both seen as leading lights in Luhya politics did not attend the meeting.
The Bungoma Senator is the latest victim in the ongoing political onslaught across the political divide- as 2022 realignments kick off in earnest.
National Super Alliance (NASA) whose leaders include Raila Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), Musalia Mudavadi’s Amani National Congress (ANC), Kalonzo Musyoka’s Wiper Democratic Movement Party and Wetangula’s Ford Kenya have been demoting leaders deemed not loyal to the coalition.
But Wetangula’s has questioned the recently sanctioned National Super Alliance changes that saw Butere MP Tindi Mwale removed from crucial committees in the National Assembly. Wetangula’s concerns are largely seen to have sparked the Saturday move.
On Thursday, the National Super Alliance (NASA) unanimously resolved to remove Kiminini MP Chris Wamalwa and his Malindi counterpart Aisha Jumwa from the positions of National Assembly Deputy Minority Whip and as a member of the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) respectively.
The purge by the NASA coalition was ratified during a Parliamentary Group meeting on Thursday at Parliament buildings attended by several legislators.
In the new changes, that National Assembly Minority Whip Junet Mohammed said were justified, Wamalwa was replaced by Tongaren MP Simiyu Eseli while Jumwa’s post was handed to Likoni MP Mishi Mboko.
The coalition’s replacements appear to be strategic to cement their influence in the two regions.
