Deputy President William Ruto is set to mount a gigantic duel to seize the control of the Jubilee party amid fears of an imminent implosion.
The DP's allies believe if he loses the Jubilee party, then his 2022 presidential chances could plummet badly.
The Star has established that the move by President Uhuru Kenyatta's allies to initiate changes to the leadership of the party's top organ - the National Management Committee - has triggered an all-out war.
The Registrar of Political Parties had on Friday, through a gazette notice, published an intention by the Jubilee party to change NMC membership in what has caused a ferocious storm likely to consume the party.
Jubilee was set to replace Fatuma Shukri, Pamela Mutua and Veronica Maina with Lucy Nyawira Macharia, Prof Marete Marangu, Walter Nyambati, Jane Nampaso and James Waweru.
However, the proposed changes through a gazette notice dated April 6 attracted protests from the DP's camp of the ruling party, with Ruto terming the move “illegal and fraudulent”.
The DP's terse protest letter on Friday, as the Jubilee Deputy Party leader, appeared to spoil the party for change proponents even as it exposed the deep-seated wars roiling the shaky outfit.
The party has been rocked by deep factional wars pitting Tangatanga politicians supporting Ruto against Kieleweke team that is backing President Kenyatta and the handshake with opposition chief Raila Odinga.
With the new battlefront, politicians and analysts opine that a political and legal battle for the heart and soul of Jubilee looms large weeks after the Building Bridges Initiative train was stopped by coronavirus outbreak.
'SCHEME TO KILL PARTY'
The DP's close allies have vowed to stop at nothing to have him take control of the Jubilee outfit as his 2022 political vehicle amid reports of a bigger scheme to annihilate the outfit.
On Saturday, several MPs allied to Ruto came out guns blazing alleging an elaborate plan by anti-DP troops to kill the party.
North Mugirango MP Joash Nyamoko said those behind the NMC changes are part of a cabal of politicians “working with the system” to stop Ruto's bid for presidency in 2022.
The key Ruto ally from the Gusii region warned that they won't let go of “a party we have invested in” no matter what.
“The direction we are taking is worrisome. This now shows that there are people pulling strings within the rank and file of the party with personal interests,” the lawmaker told the Star.
Saying the party has never had any National Executive Committee meeting to initiate changes to the NMC, Nyamoko termed the push a wider scheme to kill the party.
“We will stop any machinations to impose leaders on party members. The Jubilee party has a constitution that must be adhered to when changes are initiated. On this one, the Constitution was disregard,” he protested.
LEGAL ISSUES
Ruto was instrumental in the formation of Jubilee party that, in September 2016, led to the collapse of at least 11 political outfits ahead of the 2017 general election.
The DP's critics say he bulldozed the formation of a single behemoth party not just to aid Uhuru's re-election but with his eyes gazed at the 2022 polls when he intends to run for president.
“Jubilee was Ruto's brainchild. Ruto was the architecture behind the formation of the Jubilee party,” political analyst Felix Odhiambo said.
The political analyst told the Star that for the DP, fighting to gain control of the Jubilee Party is not a matter of choice but necessity.
“The DP has invested both emotionally and materially in the life of the party. It was Ruto who came up with the idea of having fringe parties that were supporting Uhuru's reelection form a single party. He would be about to let it go,” he said.
To ensure fringe parties would not have the liberty to leave Jubilee at will, the DP pushed for the inclusion of a safety clause in the Jubilee merger instruments that ties the 11 parties for 10 years - till 2026.
Some of the parties that merged to form Jubilee included Uhuru's The National Alliance and Ruto's United Republican Party.
Other parties were Jubilee Alliance Party, Alliance Party of Kenya, The New Ford Kenya, United Party of Kenya, Tip Tip, Grand National Union, Republican Congress, Ford People, United Democratic Forum and Party of National Unity.
Lifting the lid on the factional fights, some officials of the collapsed parties under the Jubilee National Advisory Council, on Saturday said it was the President himself who initiated the changes.
“We appreciate and fully support our party leader in his recent reorganisation of the party and wish to welcome the reconstituted party national management committee,” they said in a statement signed by Albert Nyaundi.
Ruto has previously maintained that Jubilee would not crumble down despite what he has termed as schemes by his detractors, including Raila, to try to kick him out of the party.
The DP once claimed that Raila had followed him to Jubilee and was hatching a scheme to kick him out of his own party "as he forced him out of ODM".
But as it appears, the DP's enemies within the ruling party are keen to elbow him out of the outfit amid fears of a scheme to totally kill Jubilee ahead of the 2022 polls.
“What we are seeing is part of a bigger game to kill the Jubilee party. We are aware that after they failed to push Ruto out of the party they have now resorted to killing it,” Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi said.
Bahati’s Kimani Ngunjiri asked President Kenyatta to come out openly, just like Ruto has done, to declare his position about the alleged changes to the party's NMC.
“As I have always said, the President has the power and authority to bring order in the Jubilee house. We appeal to the President to most kindly come out and give us direction,” Ngunjiri said.
The DP's allies allege legal and procedural issues around the bid to make changes to the NMC, a powerful organ that oversees the operations of the party.
For instance, the DP's allies say, the changes should have first been sanctioned the National Executive Committee which brings together various caucuses among the parliamentary leadership.
Secondly, there is a claim that NMC officials must first be members of NEC before they are seconded to the powerful committee. The new officials are not members of NEC.
On Friday, several other legislators from Ruto’s camp wrote letters asking the Registrar of Political Parties Anne Nderitu to revoke the gazette notice as it was “fraudulent”.
The NMC is made up of the national chairperson, the secretary general, the National Treasurer, the organising secretary and six committee members appointed by the National Executive Committee from amongst its membership.
Edited by R.Wamochie
