UDA Secretary General Cleophas Malala under siege
By Mercy SimiyuA section of leaders allied to the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) have voiced their dissatisfaction with the leadership of Cleophas Malala, the party’s secretary general.
The leaders, led by Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale and Kimilili lawmaker Didimus Barasa have since filed a petition to have Malala removed from the influential position in the ruling party.
Khalwale expressed concerns about Malala’s decision to assign county and regional administrators to supervise the forthcoming local party polls on December 9, 2023.
“He has overstepped his mandate and usurped the roles of the National Elections Board (NEB), ” the petition states in part.
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Khalwale asked the committee to impose an order prohibiting Malala from performing duties vested in the Office of the Secretary-General in the party.
The petition came amid an escalating clash between Khalwale and Malala, with the former accusing the latter of marking reckless pronouncements.
Speaking at a meeting with UDA members at his Malinya home in Kakamega in September 2023, Khalwale said Malala lacked the capacity to order sister parties in the Kenya Kwanza coalition to fold.
“The only advice we can give him is as follows. The dissolution of parties, please Malala stick to ANC and do not tell Ford Kenya to dissolve because you are not a member of Ford Kenya,” he said.
In a radio interview on October 11, 2023, Barasa claimed, but without providing proof, that Malala was a mole of the opposition party Orange Democratic Movement (ODM). He supported Khalwale’s move for Malala to be removed.
“We brought Malala because we wanted him to checkmate Senator Sifuna (of ODM). We’ve seen the Nairobi Senator making statements about UDA that go unchallenged. Statements about the Kenya Kwanza administration, how we are failing, how we have not delivered on our mandate that we promised Kenyans,” the lawmaker claimed.
Barasa also took issue with what he claimed is Malala’s constant verbal attacks on Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi and National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula.
Malala who unsuccessfully contested for the Kakamega gubernatorial seat in the 2022 polls, was appointed UDA secretary in acting capacity days after he defected to the ruling party from the Amani National Congress (ANC).