As the Jubilee party concluded its Bungoma County rallies, some of the parliamentary hopefuls who are eyeing the party ticket in Kimilili constituency are a disillusioned lot claiming that the Bungoma County party chairman John Waluke is already preferring some candidates even before nominations are held.
The candidates, Engineer John Wenyaa and Joe Khaemba, claimed that it is unfortunate that the chairman, during the two rallies held at Nasusi market and Matili market, openly urged the residents to vote for Didmus Wekesa yet they are all eyeing the ticket in the election.
Mr. Khaemba said he has heavily invested in the party and even paid for his nomination fees saying the party leadership needs to embrace all the aspirants at any platform and leave the rest to party members who will have the final say on whom to vote for during the nomination process.
He further claimed that the party chairman got it all wrong by giving out money to one candidate to mobilize the rallies saying he ought to have called all the candidates to agree on how the rallies will be conducted. He said the issue needs to be sorted before the nomination is held.
On his part, engineer Wenyaa said he had to use his own resources to partly fund the rally at Matili saying the one who was given money by the party did not use it responsibly. He said the party leadership needs to get things in order before it is too late.
He called upon Bungoma Governor Ken Lusaka, who is also the proposed national chairman of the party and the Bungoma County chairman to convene an urgent meeting to sort out the Kimilili issue or else they’ll quit the party together with their supporters saying it will be the beginning of the party’s downfall.
However, he called upon his supporters to remain intact as they plan on their next course of action saying as veterans of Kimilili politics, he is sure that the constituency will be delivered from its current state of poor leadership that has left many people in poverty.
Their sentiments were also echoed by Kimilili ward MCA aspirant Robert Simiyu and Maeni ward aspirant Chris Masinde who called upon the party leadership to provide a level playing field to all the aspirants ahead of the nomination so that they clinch all the support and seats after the exercise.
In a quick rejoinder, Didmus laughed off the allegations saying he is focused on ensuring Kimilili constituency becomes a model constituency after the August polls, saying the party leadership have also conducted their own survey and came up with whom to work with.
He says the people of Kimilili constituency will have the final say on whom they will vote in during the next general election and therefore his competitors should not panic as early as now.