• Kuria said anyone thinking they will frustrate members to leave Jubilee would be the first out of the party.
• He said they shall move to the political parties tribunal to force an election as soon as possible as long as the Covid-19 outbreak allows.
Image: VICTOR IMBOTO
Jubilee MPs disgruntled by the reorganisation of the party are not looking for another political outfit, Gatundu lawmaker Moses Kuria has said.
Kuria said anyone thinking they will frustrate members to leave Jubilee would be the first out of the party.
“Tuko kwa Jubilee mpaka tuchimbwe kwa kaburi (we’re in Jubilee till death),” Kuria told the Star Wednesday.
Kuria said party secretary general Raphael Tuju and other officials are in office illegally.
He said they shall move to the political parties tribunal to force an election as soon as possible as long as the Covid-19 outbreak allows.
The current infighting within the party was triggered by changes to the party’s National Management Committee gazetted by Registrar of Political Parties Anne Nderitu on April 6.
The party sought to replace Fatuma Shukri, Pamela Mutua and Veronica Maina with Lucy Nyawira Macharia, Marete Marangu, Walter Nyambati, Jane Nampaso and James Waweru.
The officials to be replaced have taken up positions in the civil service and have to relinquish their roles.
Kuria spoke after Nderitu acted on a Tuesday letter by Jubilee deputy secretary general and Soi MP Caleb Kositany.
Kositany had requested Nderitu to avail any correspondences between her office and the Jubilee party regarding the postponement of internal elections.
He also wanted minutes of meetings allegedly held by the NEC, documents received regarding change of party Constitution, any filings of party returns and a certified copy of the Jubilee constitution deposited with the office.
In her response, Nderitu asked Tuju to avail some of the documents requested which had not been filed with her office.
The letter did not clarify which documents requested by Kositany were not filed.
Image: /VICTOR IMBOTO
On Wednesday, Kositany said he spoke to party chairman Nelson Dzuya immediately they were notified of the gazette notice.
“I called him, he was in Mombasa and he admitted that he was in Nairobi a week before and signed documents at the party headquarters,” Kositany said.
He said those documents must have been the ones that were handed to the registrar to facilitate the gazettement of the new officials.
“Those are the minutes that we want. Where are those minutes?” he asked.
He said there had been no meeting of party organs; hence there could be no minutes.
“I’m a member of all party organs. No organ has met since the last general election. We want to know how they generated the minutes, how they signed falsified minutes and to know where those minutes are,” he said.
The lawmaker said the documents would help “solve the political conmanship in our party”.
Bahati MP Kimani Ngunjiri who was with Kuria and Kositany at the registrar’s office Wednesday faulted Nderitu for gazetting the NMC changes without supporting documents.
“Registrar has written to Tuju to request for document [required by Kositany] because she doesn’t have them. The question is, how did she gazette [the changes]?” he asked.
He criticised Nderitu for allegedly acting on ‘powers from above’ to effect changes to the party.
Ngunjiri said Tuju was using the Covid-19 outbreak to rock the party from within.
“Does Tuju think the party is an extension of the BBI?” he asked.
He asked party MPs and members to stay calm because the truth will come out.
However, Kuria commended Nderitu for washing her hands off the party affairs by asking Tuju to avail the contested documents.
“For trying to cure an illegality by releasing this letter, I want to congratulate her,” he said.