Angry Governor Aspirant Demands a Refund of Sh500,000 Nomination Fee from Ruto’s UDA Party

A politician eyeing the Bungoma governor’s seat is up in arms after the UDA party allegedly threw him under the bus.

Zachariah Baraza wants the Deputy President William Ruto-led party to refund the Sh500,000 he paid as nomination fees after learning that the party covertly resolved to back his rival Ken Lusaka under the Kenya Kwanza alliance agreement.

Lusaka, who is currently the Speaker of the Senate, is running for the seat under the Ford-Kenya party, which has teamed up with UDA and 10 other parties to form the Kenya Kwanza alliance.

Baraza, who wants to unseat incumbent Governor Wycliffe Wangamati in the forthcoming elections, was asked to step down for Lusaka by the UDA party.

Nation reports that he has given the party seven days to refund the cash, which he says he wants to use to renovate dilapidated schools across Bungoma’s nine constituencies.

Baraza announced he will still go for the seat as an independent candidate and exuded confidence that he will emerge the winner.

“If the DP [Ruto] knew that he was going to back Mr Lusaka and ask me to shelve my bid, he should not have asked me to pay the Sh500,000 for nomination fees," he lamented, accusing Ruto of preaching water and drinking wine.

Baraza called on Bungoma residents to reject Lusaka, saying he is a project of Ford-Kenya party leader Moses Wetang’ula.

Lusaka served as Bungoma’s first governor from 2013 to 2017 but he lost the seat to Wangamati in the last elections.