Deputy President William Ruto’s allies are plotting a takeover of the Jubilee Party in a bid to outwit ‘internal saboteurs’ frustrating his 2022 presidential bid.
Yesterday, his allies called for a grand house cleaning of the party’s leadership and elections to fill the positions held on an interim basis.
In a no-holds-barred post on Facebook yesterday, Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria hit out at the current party leadership, which he accused of stifling internal democracy by gagging members’ freedom of expression.
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Kuria’s statement brings to the fore the underlying suspicion in the ruling party that is obsessed with internal succession and the 2022 elections following the March 9 handshake between Nasa leader Raila Odinga and President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Yesterday, Kericho senator Aaron Cheruiyot, another ally of the DP, insisted that the Jubilee Party polls were long overdue.
He told the Star that the national office needs fresh blood, including a crop of young people, to steer the party to even greater heights.
“The Jubilee Party should hold elections as soon as possible. We owe it to our party members,” Cheruiyot said.
Jubilee insiders, however, immediately read a sinister motive in the calls they say target secretary general Raphael Tuju and outspoken vice chairman David Murathe over claims that they are ‘sabotaging’ the DP’s plan to succeed President Kenyatta.
The Jubilee Party never held elections to fill key positions after the merger of 11 affiliates less than a year before the 2017 election.
Apart from Tuju and Murathe, other interim officials include
chairman Nelson Dzuya, deputy secretaries general Caleb Kositany and Fatuma Mohamoud,
Alfred Korir (treasurer) and Abdul Hajji (organising secretary).
The officials were handpicked by Uhuru and Ruto to hold office on an interim basis following the merger of political parties in September 2016.
Grassroots elections, which were to be held within 90 days after last year's general election, have never taken place.
The Star learnt from reliable sources that the DP is keen on installing a team of lieutenants at Jubilee House friendly to his 2022 presidential ambitions, amid growing fears that Central Kenya could abandon him.
The DP’s troops want the much-awaited internal elections conducted soon to pick new office bearers right from the grassroots up to the national office.
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Kuria accused the current party leadership of lacking the capacity to rally political leaders to successfully support Uhuru’s Big Four agenda.
“Key national agendas such as the Big Four are very potent warheads, with the potential of transforming Kenya forever," he said on Facebook. "But even the most lethal warhead requires a strong missile to deliver it. In the case of the Big Four, a strong Jubilee Party is that missile.”
In an indirect reference to Tuju and Murathe, the vocal lawmaker and President’s MP urged the party to pave the way for active politicians to assume its leadership mantle through free, fair and transparent elections.
“Yet we are the only political party with no space for politicians. John Mbadi (ODM), Professor Kivutha Kibwana (Wiper), Boni Khalwale (Ford Kenya) and Chris Wamalwa (Ford Kenya) are party chairmen and active politicians,” Kuria said, mixing up facts.
“Time has come for Jubilee Party to open up space for political participation. Party elections are long overdue,” he concluded.
When contacted yesterday, Tuju said, "I have no comment on the issue."
Sirisia MP John Walukhe said the party was facing internal confusion caused by lack of communication structures.
“I am the Bungoma county Jubilee Party chairman, yet like many other grassroots officials I don’t know what is happening. It is total confusion and we are now lost. These elections could have been done like yesterday,” he complained.
Waluke revealed that the parry has been thrown into disarray since the March 9 handshake. Most members are disillusioned, he said.
“We have kept asking what Raila came to do in our party. It is like he came to wreck our party. Since Raila came we have not been happy and people are divided,” the MP said in reference to the Uhuru-Raila Building Bridges pact.
National Assembly Majority leader Aden Duale,
a staunch ally of Ruto, appeared to support calls for internal elections.
“The President’s agenda is to leave the Jubilee Party in the league of South Africa’s ANC or like other major parties in the US and UK. It is through elections that the party builds its grassroots support by having strong youth and women leagues,” the Garissa Township MP said.
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Duale said, however, there was no cause for alarm in the party, which he described as the single largest outfit in the country. “Jubilee in the future must be owned by the people,” he said.
“By virtue of its parliamentary strength, the party gets a lot of resources and it is important that these resources are well utilised to establish and build grassroots support and leadership,” Duale said.
According to audited accounts by Auditor General Edward Ouko presented to Parliament, the Jubilee Party raked in Sh1.1 billion ahead of the August 8, 2017, General Election.
This formed part of the war chest that propelled the party to power and ensured the re-election of Uhuru for the final term.
The party’s income in the nine months leading up to June 2017 included fees for membership, nomination, aspirants’ petitions and donations.
The party received Sh145.9 million from the Political Parties Fund, raising Jubilee’s net income to Sh1.2 billion, according to the report dated August 2, 2018.
But the auditor indicted the party for bad financial management.
“During the nine-month period under review, the party did not prepare a budget as required by the Act, which requires all public entities to prepare an annual financial budget and operate within the confines of the prepared budget,” Ouko reported.
Amid growing concern by a section of the party, vice chairman Murathe over the weekend dismissed speculation that Central would abandon Ruto in 2022.
"I want to tell those politicians going round saying that some Jubilee politicians are not supporting the DP: who are they supporting if not Uhuru and Ruto? This party is for all us united as one," he said.
“The President wants to leave this country united as a whole and that is the reason he went for a handshake with former Prime Minister Raila Odinga. It is not because he supports Raila; it is because the country will move on in unity and achieve development," Murathe said at Kanjai PCEA church, Githunguri, on Sunday.
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