Wrangles rock TNA as group demands polls

Divisions in President Kenyatta’s party, TNA, continued on Sunday with one group demanding that a parliamentary group meeting be held on Wednesday.

A faction led by MP Moses ole Sakuda, which has been pushing for elections to replace the current officials, said it did not attend a retreat convened by chairman Johnson Sakaja in Naivasha at the weekend because they were not invited.

“The current TNA officials were appointed and not elected... We want members given a chance to elect new officials,” Mr Sakuda said.

He said TNA MPs would meet in Nairobi on Wednesday to look for ways of strengthening the party at the grassroots.

“TNA cannot call a National Delegates Convention as it has no delegates. As the number one party, why don’t we have structures to take it to the next level?” he asked.

TNA secretary-general Onyango Oloo said the Naivasha retreat was meant to chart the way forward for the party for the next four years.

He said only 10 MPs, five senators and selected majority leaders from county assemblies and party officials were invited for the retreat at Great Rift Valley Lodge.

The party is facing intense infighting for its control with some MPs and allied officials pushing for Mr Sakaja and Mr Oloo to be replaced.

TNA vice-chairperson Lydia Mokaya said Mr Sakaja was no longer the chairman and had no power to convene a parliamentary group meeting.

VIOLATED PARTY CONSTITUTION

Ms Mokaya, who teamed up with several other officials, issued a statement saying Mr Sakaja violated the party constitution by convening the meeting.

“This is a mischievous attempt by our former chairman to call for an illegal meeting. This meeting was neither sanctioned by the National Oversight Board of TNA nor the interim chairperson, Lydia Mokaya,” the statement said.

Ms Mokaya’s faction held a meeting a fortnight ago and ejected Mr Sakaja as chairman on the grounds that he was a State officer.

Mr Sakaja, a nominated MP, however maintained he would continue to be the party’s bona fide chairman.

Meanwhile, the party has refuted claims that funds had been misappropriated.

In an interview with the Nation, Mr Oloo said the claims were made by disgruntled members who had a “bone to chew with some officials”. He said it was wrong to “drag his name through the mud” yet evidence showed that the party’s accounts “were healthy.”

He termed as propaganda allegations that the withdrawals of huge amounts of money from the TNA bank account precipitated the ongoing crisis in the party.

Mr Oloo said the party accounts were open for auditing and that more than Sh900,000 was withdrawn last week, but the cash was used for the intended purposes.

An audit report obtained by the Sunday Nation, indicated that Sh16.7 million withdrawn from an account at Equity Bank Community branch in Nairobi could not be accounted for. The money was meant to pay party agents and some suppliers. But Mr Oloo discounted the report and said their books were open for scrutiny.

Additional reporting by Macharia Mwangi