• The DP, according to people close to him, wants the party to call the National Executive Committee meeting.
• President Uhuru only has a 60 Senators and Members of National Assembly elected on the party ticket on his side.
Image: FILE
Deputy President William Ruto is ready to take over the troubled Jubilee Party and 146 lawmakers from both Senate and Parliament are on his side.
Ruto, according to people close to him, wants the party to call the National Executive Committee meeting to draw up a calendar for party elections.
The DP's camp wants to elect people who will support his agenda within the party as they prepare to succeed President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2022.
“70%-146 elected Jubilee MPs – Senate and National Assembly have rejected the fraudulent and illegal attempted changes by heartless gangsters taking advantage of the Covid-19 when Kenyans are anxious about their health and survival. They aren’t President Uhuru’s men; they are crooks,” said Ruto in a tweet on Tuesday night.
The DP's allies also want President Uhuru Kenyatta to call regular Parliamentary Group meetings for consensus on party positions.
They have faulted the current officials for failing to convene any party meetings.
“No party organ has met since the last election. We want the party leader to call an NEC meeting so that we can put the Jubilee house in order,” Jubilee deputy secretary general Caleb Kositany said.
Kenyatta's MP in Gatundu Moses Kuria who has become a key supporter of Ruto vowed to stay in Jubilee "till death do us part".
“Tuko Kwa Jubilee mpaka tuchimbwe kwa kaburi (we’re in Jubilee till death),” Kuria told the Star Wednesday
In their fight against the Party changes, Ruto's team is planning to file another petition at the Political Parties Tribunal in case they don't get a favourable ruling from the Registrar of Political Parties.
"We will use every legal means to stop these changes," Kuria said.
Ruto has rejected attempts by Jubilee secretary general Raphael Tuju and other officials to nominate members of the party’s National Management Committee.
At least 146 Jubilee leaders have filed their objections with the registrar of political parties Anne Nderitu.
Currently, Jubilee has 206 members in both houses of Parliament. The party has 172 in the National Assembly and 34 in the Senate.
This means President Uhuru only has a 60 Senators and members of National Assembly elected on the party ticket on his side.
The party had 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 had taken up positions in the civil service and had to relinquish their roles.
Responding to Ruto’s alleged numbers, Tuju said some MPs were mobilised to send objections to the changes.
“From what we have seen so far in the social media, it is apparent that some orchestrated objections have been sent to the ORPP and we are awaiting the official communication from the Registrar on those protests and we will respond,” he said in a statement to newsrooms.
The Jubilee SG also threw a jibe at DP Ruto in the manner he has chosen to bypass party structures and instead prosecute party’s matters on the social media.
“Some of those high-ranking individuals are on record as having always advised or insisted that internal Party matters should strictly be settled using the Party dispute resolution mechanism,” he said.
“We at the headquarters have adhered to the policy of settling difference in the party within the party to the letter especially in the face of every emotive submission with respect to our National elections Board that was accused of having been used as a rigging machine in the Mount Kenya region.”
Jubilee leaders from Mt Kenya led by vice-chairman David Murathe have accused Ruto of manipulating the nomination process in the last election to plant his allies in the region and his Rift Valley backyard.
In a quick rejoinder, Kositany accused Tuju of refusing to convene party meetings so that members can ventilate any issues.
“If Tuju had taken time to read the statement scribbled for his signature, he would have come to the conclusion that he is actually chastising himself. As secretary-general, how many meetings of the various organs of the party has he convened so that the internal mechanism he now glorifies can thrive?” posed Kositany.
Earlier, the Soi MP confirmed that 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.
Bahati MP Kimani Ngunjiri and Kuria who accompanied Kositany to the registrar’s office on Wednesday faulted Nderitu for gazetting the NMC changes without supporting documents.
“The registrar has written to Tuju to request for documents [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.
“Does Tuju think the party is an extension of the BBI?” he asked.
He told 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 illegality by releasing this letter, I want to congratulate her,” Kuria said.
(edited by o. owino)