• Regional director Ndile wants Jubilee disbanded, says they were duped to fold their parties during the merger.
• Strong group to win party elections will also have an opportunity to overhaul the party structures.
Jubilee grassroots polls are the next stage for the control of the party ahead of 2022 succession politics.
Multiple sources have confirmed that President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto have agreed that the party sorts out grassroots structures between December and March next year.
“We did not have money but we now have funds from the Registrar of Political Parties and we are ready to go ahead with the polls,” Jubilee Party Secretary General Raphael Tuju said.
The polls are meant to address the political infighting within the party that started off this year when its interim vice chairman David Murathe resigned after differing with Ruto.
The resignation was a response to Ruto's 2022 presidential poll bid, which remains the primary focus of the party debate. As a result, heavily funded Tangatanga, Kieleweke and Wanjiku groups have emerged competing against each other.
“It is only sibling rivalry. The rivalry shows that we have democracy in the party,” Tuju said.
Tangatanga and Kieleweke politicians are allied to Ruto and state officials respectively while Wanjiku tilts between the two.
Tuju said the party governing council will draft election rules to ensure polls remain free, fair and credible.
“I cannot say if I will vie or not but we will cross that bridge when we get there,” Tuju said.
The strong group to win party elections will also have an opportunity to overhaul the party structures in preparedness.
“Ruto believes he can use the party to hold on the Mount Kenya voting bloc in the next polls. Mount Kenya might not go to Raila but they will walk to the right candidate when the candidate comes up,” political analysts Martin Andati said.
"And that right candidate is not Ruto or Raila. Ruto is an incumbent and Raila will get nothing from BBI."
Andati said Jubilee did its part by getting Uhuru and Ruto from the jaws of ICC and putting them in power.
"Ruto should get another party now that he is politically mature and has funds. Ruto should stop wasting his time on Jubilee since it will remain a shell," Andati said.
The party regional director and former Kibwezi MP Kalembe Ndile said all is not well in Jubilee party after they were "duped" to fold their parties during the merger.
"We want the party disbanded so that we can go our way. The chances that the polls will sort out the issues we have raised and the funds which we used and the party has failed to pay us,” Ndile said.
“It would be wise if they break up the party so that everyone walks away with what he had. I had Tip Tip and I am suffering.”
Part of the restructuring process will lead the party to hire hundreds of staff on top of the current 47 officials at the secretariat to fill up 'vacant' positions. The plight of the current employees remains in the hands of the winner in a deeply divided party.
The new employees will help the party set up a strong propaganda, branding, communication and research departments among others before it launches a new recruitment drive targeting mainly Nasa zones.
Jubilee House occupies six floors while the seventh floor has been set aside as the President's office. The first floor hosts a media and county desk. The second floor has the media and ICT team while third-floor shelters the finance and administration team.
Others are regional directors (formerly leaders of the parties that dissolved) and the secretary-general Raphael Tuju who sit on the fourth floor. The fifth and sixth floors host advanced IT and other members of staff have been denied access.
Edited by R.Wamochie