• The Registrar of Political Parties Ann Nderitu in a letter to Jubilee secretary general Raphael Tuju rejected changes to the party's National Management Committee.
• Instead, she threw the ball back to Tuju, who had written to her proposing the NMC changes, directing that the party resolves the row.
Image: ANDREW KASUKU
Deputy President William Ruto has won the first round in the fight for control of the ruling Jubilee Party.
Registrar of Political Parties Ann Nderitu in a letter to Jubilee secretary general Raphael Tuju rejected changes to the party's National Management Committee.
Instead, Nderitu threw the ball back to Tuju, who had written to her proposing the NMC changes, directing that the party resolves the row.
Nderitu in a letter dated April 16 said she had received 350 written objections from Jubilee members concerning the processes of the intended changes to the top decision-making organ.
The NMC together with the National Executive Committee is in charge of the daily operations of the party.
“Consequently, these written objections are hereby forwarded to Jubilee Party to be addressed in accordance with your party constitution and party structures,” Nderitu says in the letter.
The Registrar had invited the public to forward written submissions concerning the changes in a Gazette notice of April 6.
The names Tuju proposed have been opposed by DP Ruto and his allies, terming them fraudulent and illegal.
Ruto last Friday tweeted, “As Kenyans are focused on the Covid-19 pandemic, some shadowy characters are attempting to fraudulently institute illegal changes in officials of Jubilee party. As deputy party leader, I have alerted the registrar of the fraud. Party members should know that the matter is being handled”.
The DP had also written to the Registrar saying, "Please note that NMC has never been reconstituted by the party neither have we ever convened NEC (National Executive Committee) to reconstitute NMC."
The proposed officials are Lucy Macharia, Marete Marangu, ex-Kitutu Masaba MP Walter Nyambati, Jane Nampaso and James Waweru.
The changes, according to Tuju, were necessitated by the vacancy created after Veronica Maina, Fatuma Shukri and Pamela Mutua resigned after their appointment to government offices.
Ruto further said the changes were done by "political rejects, conmen, fraudsters whose party allegiance is already elsewhere".
"The president and party leader of the Jubilee Party did not and cannot be party to any fraudulent and illegal changes to officials of our party,” he said Ruto in the tweet.
The changes also attracted protests from party members allied to the Deputy President, who also said there was no formal meeting to ratify the decision.
On Thursday, Soy MP and Jubilee deputy secretary Caleb Kositany wrote to Nderitu claiming Tuju used falsified documents to effect unsanctioned changes in the party.
INTERNAL STRUCTURES
The Registrar also notes that the internal dispute resolution structures in the party have not been exhausted.
"Kindly note that Section 40 of the Political Parties Acct 2011 provides that if there is a dispute between members of a political party or between a member of a political party and the political party, the dispute shall be referred to the Political Parties Dispute Tribunal for hearing and determination.
"Nevertheless, the party is expected to have exhausted its internal dispute resolution mechanisms in line with Section 40 (2) of the Act,” Nderitu adds in the letter.
Tuju, however, in a statement on Wednesday maintained the party has adhered to the policy of settling differences in the party to the latter.
He further accused senior party members of resorting to using social media to object to the changes, “while they have at their disposal internal channels of communication”.
Speaking outside Registrar offices at Lion Place on Friday, Nakuru Senator Susan Kihika welcomed the decision by the Registrar, saying it is a clear communication “that people who were not elected to office cannot wake up one morning and make changes to the party”.
“We also regret that we were forced to do this at a time the country is in the middle of the coronavirus crisis but we didn’t have an option. This issue has a timeline and we were time-barred,” she said.
Lang’ata MP said it was good that the matter was referred back to the party and they will now schedule a meeting, even if it will be via Zoom App.
“All said and done, the message we have is that we are not leaving Jubilee come what may,” Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria added.
Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu in an earlier dispatch said, "The President — the party leader — is the only one with the power to appoint anyone to the party leadership. Even the DP’s allies like Caleb Kositany, who is the party Deputy SG was appointed by the President, solely."
He argued that President Uhuru Kenyatta can continue to appoint whoever he wants — for as long as it’s on an interim basis and that’s going to be the status for a while.
Ngunjiri also said the President does not need the NEC to make party changes, including in Parliament, "where he is going next".
"The DP thought he could use the NEC to ‘manage’ the party. However the NEC doesn’t really exist - and the NMC has the power to do whatever the NEC can do," the MP said.
Kuria on Friday said, "Pursuant to the directive from the Registrar of Political Parties, Jubilee MPs have resolved to start working from Jubilee House from Monday 20th April, 2020 to facilitate the resolution of the misunderstandings and interpretation of the party constitution."
"Jubilee will solve the misunderstandings and forge together as a united, cohesive and democratic nationalist ruling party. See you there."