•The Star has established that the party has failed to meet some of the requirements and has sought more time from the registrar to put its house in order before conducting the polls.
•According to a letter in our possession, Nderitu outlined eight conditions for the political outfit to meet before embarking on the nationwide elections.
Image: FILE
President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee party has now postponed elections for its officials indefinitely because of tough conditions set out by the Registrar of Political Parties Anne Nderitu.
The Star has established that the party has failed to meet some of the requirements and has sought more time from the registrar to put its house in order before conducting the polls.
According to a letter in our possession, Nderitu outlined eight conditions for the political outfit to meet before embarking on the nationwide elections.
Secretary General Raphael Tuju revealed that the party has met all the conditions but one, forcing it to postpone the polls lest the exercise be declared null and void.
In what will likely cause chaos in the already divided party, Tuju disclosed that the party has not disaggregated its members to the ward level as guided by the registrar.
“Most of them [conditions] we were able to comply with but there is one which was almost impossible to comply with because no party has complied with it. It was the desegregation of membership to ward level,” Tuju said
According the letter dated January 16, 2020, desegregation of membership was a requirement if the election was going to be through universal suffrage.
“The disaggregated registers should enable a voter to be uniquely identified by providing such details as name, gender, party membership number, ID/Passport number, county, constituency, wars and part polling station,” read the letter.
The disaggregated register should be made publicly available to the members for the purposes of verification and inspection as provided for in the party constitution.
Tuju said the requirement threw the plans for elections into disarray, as they were not able to comply with them within one month before conducting the polls in March.
“She gave us an extension because. otherwise, the elections would have been rendered null and void if we do not comply requirement of the registrar of political parties,” he said.
The desegregation of membership is one of the tasks that the national management committee whose constitution has caused divisions in the party, is mandated to do.
But with the wrangles and now the Covid 19 pandemic, it will take longer before the party complies with the requirement and conducts the elections.
“It is us to get back to the registrar, through our management committee, to tell her when we comply. But with this coronavirus, we cannot get back to her now,” Tuju added.
A section of Jubilee members allied to Deputy President William Ruto has been piling pressure on the party to conduct the polls.
According to the registrar’s guidelines, the party was asked to allow its authorized organs to discuss and approve the conduct of the election, election date and the method of elections.
The party was also asked to put an election team to run the polls, provide mechanism for internal dispute resolution, identify elective positions and map out polling centres.
Meantime, Tuju has told off DP’s allies and a section of MCAs who have questioned his role appointment of Majority and Minority leaders in county assemblies.
Last week, Kirinyaga MCAs and some MPs attacked the secretary general for sacking assembly majority leader James Murango.
But Tuju said he has the powers as the SG to designate a person as the leader of its wing in both Parliament and the county assemblies.
“That is why one Aden Duale (National Assembly Majority Leader) was designated to be the leader in the house. That is why Benjamin Washiali (National Assembly Majority Chief Whip) was not elected. That is Murkomen was not elected,” he said.
The MCAs have been clinging on their standing orders to elect members but Tuju said such a provision cannot override the Political Parties Act which allows a party to designate leaders.
“The law says the party shall designate, so the party can use any methodology whether election or any other means,” he added.