President Uhuru Kenyatta is moving to stamp his authority and quell indiscipline in his party that has recently been steeped in wrangles.
While signing the Appropriations Bill yesterday, Uhuru is said to have asked the party’s parliamentary leadership to seek unity in the pronouncements of its MPs.
A National Governing Council meeting mooted for mid next month to discuss the perceived differences in the party has however been shelved. Instead, Secretary General Raphael Tuju is expected to convene a meeting of the Parliamentary Group next week at which the President is expected to read the script to the feuding members.
The President’s concern was echoed by Jubilee Vice Chairman David Murathe, yesterday, when he told the Star: “You cannot be a leader in Parliament and not support the position of the Party Leader. The President is ready to discipline any member of the party who goes against its manifesto and policies."
Murathe said there is "no crisis" to necessitate a meeting of the Governing Council — the second ranking organ after the National Delegates Conference — despite recent threats of disciplinary action against some party members.
"We have said that the Parliamentary Group should put its act together by sitting down and thrashing out the issues,” Murathe said.
“We are asking them to reduce the amount of politicking and concentrate on the Big Four. If we are successful on the big four, it will only be good for succession path of the DP," he added.
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Despite outspoken differences of opinion in recent days, Majority Leader Aden Duale also played down speculation of a split in the party which has been steeped in rifts since Uhuru’s onslaught on corruption began two months ago.
“Under Article 108, as the Majority Leader of the National Assembly, I am the spokesman of the party in Parliament and there should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that Jubilee is united behind the President,” Duale said.
He attributed the differences to the 2015 merger of 13 parties that form Jubilee. The folding parties were regional or tribe-based, he said.
“We will not reverse the gains that we have made as the largest party with 175 MPs and a majority of senators and governors. We will not break into pieces as some people are expecting,” Duale affirmed.
“The President has insisted that we must focus on the Big Four, which is part of the Jubilee manifesto, and not 2022 politics. We will use the successes of the Big Four as the selling point for Ruto’s presidential bid,” said Duale.
Uhuru's succession as Party Leader is considered to be one of the causes of the disquiet, the Star has established.
The other is whether he will play an active role in his deputy William Ruto's bid to succeed him.
The PG meting comes amid unease over the President’s handshake with political rival Raila Odinga, which sent Ruto’s supporters back to the drawing board.
The truce, and Raila’s newfound status mas a partner to the President in the Building Bridges Initiatives has raised eyebrows among the DP’s backers who interpret it as an obstacle to his on his succession path.
It has not been helped by conflicting signals from the the party’ Mt Kenya stronghold, where the President calls the shots. The party’s soldiers have been reading from different scripts with some promising to stand by Ruto while others openly saying they will negotiate for the best deal in 2022.
Significantly, the President has steered clear of the 2022 debate despite the rising crescendo of the anti-Ruto sentiment amplified by last week’s statement by the influential Kikuyu Council of Elders urging the DP to retire together with his boss.
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“It would be in the best interest of the DP to keep the party together and the noise from part of his corner is not helping his cause. The party supports everything the President is doing including the handshake, fighting corruption and the lifestyle audit and anyone fighting these initiatives is not a friend of Jubilee," Murathe said.
Duale concurred, stating that all Jubilee members are bound by the pronouncements of the President regardless of their status.
"We have one party leader who is President Uhuru Kenyatta and any decision or policy that he makes, all of us - rank and file – are bound to support beginning with the Deputy President to the grassroots leaders," Duale said.
SPLIT
The Star has learnt that the President is concerned over the ongoing talk of a split in his party over the emerging succession fight.
He believes the tussle will derail his war against corruption, the Big Four legacy project and Ruto's presidential bid.
One of the emerging narratives is that in his quest to cement his legacy, Uhuru will not actively endorse his deputy when the 2022 campaign kicks off. The President is said to have made it clear to certain individuals that he intends to remain the party leader even after his term ends.
Despite simmering discontent among his allies who allege he is being targeted, Ruto has affected a calm public posture and maintained that he is “fully behind my boss” and following his development agenda.
"Our politics in the next five years is to ensure development. The president and I are committed to only one thing and that is development," the DP said on Thursday.
Last week, Senate Majority Leader Kipchumba Murkomen caused a stir in Jubilee when he claimed in a TV interview that some people in the Presidency were undermining Ruto's bid.
Cherangany MP Joshua Kutuny criticised Murkomen’s statements as counterproductive to Jubilee's unity and Ruto's bid.
"As a Majority Leader in the Senate, Murkomen is not an ordinary person and understands clearly the channels within which to air his concerns. To me the statement was malicious and meant to bring division and discord in the ruling party," Kuttuny said.
"Murkomen is making these allegations supposedly to defend and champion the course of the Deputy President. I would like to point out that DP is a brand in himself. He does not need some reckless and egoistic politicians to market him," Kuttuny said.
It took the intervention of Ruto and Duale to save Murkomen from being ousted as the chairman of the caucus of Rift Valley MPs.
DP reportedly expressed Uhuru's disappointment and told the Elgeyo Marakwet MP to guard his utterances given his seniority in the Jubilee hierarchy.
After the meeting of the caucus on Wednesday, Murkomen said the Rift Valley MPs gathering was just "a routine housekeeping meeting that was deemed necessary in order to provide a reassuring signal to the Jubilee family and all Kenyans."
"We cannot be loyal to the Jubilee family, its leadership and founding values while at the same time condoning retrogressive, destructive and divisive agendas. Our strong stand against these connivances as well as their perpetrators is therefore fully consistent with our total loyalty and commitment," Murkomen said.
Later, he tweeted that reports of Ruto and Duale coming to his rescue was "fake news".
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