Linturi quits UDA, says he won’t be part of a party that embraces corruption, murder

Former Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi has exited the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), accusing the ruling party of straying from its founding ideals and engaging in abductions, corruption, excessive taxation and murder.

In a resignation letter dated May 14, 2025, and addressed to UDA Secretary General Hassan Omar, Linturi said he could no longer remain in a party that, in his view, had become morally bankrupt under the leadership of President William Ruto.

The letter was also copied to the Registrar of Political Parties and shared with media houses.

“I have today formally tendered my official resignation as a founding member of the United Democratic Alliance to the party’s SG, with immediate effect,” he wrote.

“I have duly notified the Registrar of Political Parties of my decision to resign.”

Linturi, a key figure in UDA’s formation and campaign trail during the 2022 general elections, said the party had failed to uphold the BETA ideology it was founded upon, likening its current state to the Biblical Tower of Babel.

“Political parties are established under firm philosophies which bind voluntary members. Such ideals are meant to be lived and practised. It was the philosophy of UDA and its commitment to BETA ideology that I believed in to be a member and championed,” he said.

“In realisation that the party has failed to live up to its philosophy, mandate, to its mission, to its values and to its objectives, such a party has no moral authority to bear the name of a political party. This is a party akin to the Biblical Tower of Babel.”

Betrayal

Linturi accused UDA of betraying the people of Kenya through what he described as a pattern of repression, economic strain and institutional disrespect.

“Over the past two years of its leadership under the Kenya Kwanza Alliance, UDA has shown total contempt for the people and the great Republic of Kenya,” he said.

“I do not wish, nor would I ever wish that any Kenyan would belong to a party that is repugnant of its philosophy, a party that tolerates corruption, abduction and brutal murder of our young people, overtaxes Kenyans, a party that has no respect for women and children.”

He further criticised the party for failing to uphold the Constitution and ignoring the grievances of citizens.

“UDA has consequently failed to respect the constitution and the rule of law as well as listen to the grievances of the people,” he added.

Linturi said his move was driven by a sense of patriotism and disillusionment with the current political order.

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• Linturi quits UDA
• says he won’t be part of a party that embraces corruption

“It is in this realisation that I, Hon. Mithika Linturi, a patriotic Kenyan, tender my resignation as a member of the United Democratic Alliance–UDA with immediate effect,” he said.

He now joins the growing list of politicians who once defended the ruling party but have since defected.

On Monday, former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua also formally resigned from UDA, accusing the party of derailing the country’s political, social and economic trajectory.

“The party has exhausted and wasted a Kenyan moment to take off economically, socially, and politically,” Gachagua said in his statement.

“As a party, and millions of Kenyans, we believed and trusted him and this statement. It was a lie. No nation can be built on a litany of lies.”

Linturi and Gachagua have since teamed up with other like-minded leaders to form what they describe as the new opposition movement, following the truce between President Ruto and ODM party leader Raila Odinga earlier this year.

The emerging alliance includes People’s Liberation Party leader Martha Karua, Wiper Party’s Kalonzo Musyoka and DAP-Kenya’s Eugene Wamalwa, among others.

The group, which likens its formation to the Avengers, has vowed to mount a strong challenge against President Ruto, whom they refer to as a political “Thanos.”

However, the question of who will emerge as the coalition’s presidential flagbearer remains unsettled.