Uhuru silence triggers new Central parties

Officials of a newly registered political outfit in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Mount Kenya backyard now say the party will be the region’s alternative political vehicle in 2022.

Uhuru's Jubilee Party is on its deathbed, some proponents of new parties claim.

The registration of new political outfits has stirred anxiety in Deputy President William Ruto's camp. Some allies warn the move risks pushing the country into 'the past era of tribal parties'.

Uhuru has remained silent on the 2022 succession battle that is sweeping across the country as the many political parties spring up in his own backyard

“The reason why we collapsed URP and TNA was to end tribalism. The situation still remains the same. We should do away with tribal parties and form parties with a national outlook,” Soi MP Kaleb Kositany told the Star yesterday.

Speaking for the first time since the Transformational National Alliance Party (TNA) got its provisional registration certificate, the leaders claimed Jubilee was on its deathbed.

TNA is seen as the reincarnation of Uhuru’s defunct The National Alliance that merged, with among others, Ruto's URP to form the behemoth Jubilee Party. Many parties had jitters about the loss of their identity in the Jubilee juggernaut.

The formation of the new TNA has triggered a political storm in Central Kenya and fears it is part of the game plan to shortchange DP Ruto.

Since the disputed 2017 polls, about 30 political parties have received either provisional registration or full registration.

Former PS in the Transport Ministry Cyrus Njiru, the TNA interim vice chairman, told the Star the Mount Kenya region can no longer be complacent in the wobbling Jubilee Party.

“The Transformation National Alliance party has been formed by Jubilee members convinced of the ruling party’s imminent collapse,” Njiru said yesterday.

The TNA vice chairman said Jubilee has failed completely to deliver on the many promises President Uhuru made in both the 2013 and 2017 General Elections.

“Elected politicians from the Jubilee are trooping to TNA because they are disappointed that some of the party’s very good promises have not been fulfilled. They decided to look for a way forward which includes the formation of the new party,” he said.

Njiru served in the giant Transport ministry during retired President Mwai Kibaki’s tenure and unsuccessfully ran for Embu governor in 2017.

Njiru said the growing fears over Jubilee’s uncertain future forced leaders within the ruling party to craft an alternative political vehicle that will secure Mount Kenya’s interests.

“Owing to the challenges in Jubilee, various interested stakeholders came together and decided to go back to the drawing board. This (formation of the new party) is one of the many steps and we will be informing the people of others after a meeting to be scheduled in the next few days,” Njiru said.

The ex-PS claimed that many of the elected politicians from Mt Kenya region had already endorsed the new political outfit and are waiting for the opportune moment to jump ship.

“There are so many currently elected senators, MPs and ward representatives are in the party but have decided to be mum to avoid by-elections repercussions,” Njiru said.

In relentless political scheming ahead 2022, Kibaki’s former political machine, The Democratic Party, has also been revamped with ex-PS Irungu Nyakera as the deputy party leader.

Interestingly, Irungu recently won elections as the chairman of the influential political parties liaison committee.

The two parties, coming at a time when Ruto is also whispered to be plotting to revive his collapsed URP, have intensified the debate on President Uhuru’s succession battle.

In the middle of this month, Ruto was welcomed by a huge crowd of youths in Kiambu county. They were wearing yellow T-shirts with Ruto's face printed on them — triggering political speculations.

In a clear signal that all is not well in Jubilee, Uhuru has snubbed calls from a section of Jubilee MPs to convene a parliamentary group meeting to steady the party.

Uhuru, Ruto and their allies continue to contradict each other in public especially on the handshake and the war against corruption.

Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria, who has been seen as the face of the new TNA Party, has come out to fight off claims he is sabotaging the ruling Jubilee.

He has said the move is “justifiable and logical", saying it was a big blunder to dissolve TNA.

“There is nothing wrong with people with six million votes organising themselves. We won’t follow the route of Mwai Kibaki, Charles Njonjo and (the late) GG Kariuki who gave up the presidency in 1978 with no plan. We are, however, not blinded by raw hate and emotion like Kieleweke,” Kuria said of the new outfit.

Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichung’wa, a key Ruto ally, said the push for a new political vehicle was an open onslaught against the progress Jubilee has made in entrenching issue-based politics.

“It is inconsequential, self-seeking and a clawback on the national integration and cohesion agenda, it falls flat on the gains realised by Jubilee party where competition was redefined from regional ethnic backgrounds to policies, programmes and agendas,” Ichung’wa said.

Ichung'wa, a key member of Ruto’s Tanga Tanga movement, said he will not subscribe to the new TNA party, saying the proponents are pursuing for “selfish deeds".

At the same time, Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro said those advocating for TNA party risked losing their seats in Parliament if they continued to advocate interests of a competing political party.

“We have been sponsored by Jubilee party, I’m sure a person like Kuria knows the legal ramifications of promoting a competing political party and therefore I am not sure he would take that route,” Nyoro said.

He added, “ We folded smaller ethnic parties to form a big ideological-based political party and it would be tragic to go back to the past.”

But Nyeri town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu termed as "retrogressive" the push for more political parties in the country.

“I personally don’t think this is a good idea because it is backward,” Wambugu told the Star.

In a veiled attack at Ruto who has been in campaign overdrive, Wambugu said parties should send an alarm to those engaging in premature 2022 campaigns.

“This is a consequence of early campaigns,” he said insisting that 2022 hopefuls fear they are being left behind or locked out of the race.

“These people with ambitions, therefore, feel some kind of injustice and threat. They want a party they can control,” Wambugu added.

Officials of the new TNA party have, however, disassociated themselves from Kieleweke and Team Tanga Tanga, he two factions that have emerged in Jubilee ahead of 2022.