Cash crunch hits Ruto’s UDA

• Apr 6, 2022

Cash crunch hits Ruto’s UDA

By Correspondent

Deputy President William Ruto's party, United Democratic Alliance (UDA) is in a spin ahead of party primaries slated for April 14, following a severe cash crunch.

 According to a senior official, the party is facing financial hurdles despite raking in over Sh350 million in nomination fees from aspiring candidates.

Sources privy to the situation allude that, a chunk of millions collected from party nomination fees was channeled to procuring merchandise while the rest is under Ruto's presidential budget.

 This has left the party with a gaping budget deficit straining party operations.

The source further revealed that several campaign teams have either been disbanded or merged to cut operational costs. Specifically, the communication teams have been halved with the arrival of former Citizen TV anchor Hussein Muhammed with hundreds of bloggers sacked or getting a trivial Sh3,000 per month.

According to National Elections Board Chairperson, Anthony Mwaura, the cash shortage has forced the party to hire a paltry 128 presiding officers and 100,000 clerks to manage party primaries.

This shortage is expected to adversely affect the outcome of party nominations, causing panic and distress among the candidates fearing the process might be synonymous with Jubilee primaries in 2017.

The financial hitch at Hustler Centre has also affected Ruto's presidential campaign since last month. Ruto, who was known to hop from one mega rally to the other a few months ago has tremendously reduced his political activities.

Other sources have revealed that key aspiring candidates are forced to fork millions to fund rallies in their backyard as cushioning the DP from embarrassment as his party has run broke.