Mombasa, Kenya: President Uhuru Kenyatta capped his charm offensive at the Coast by trying to extinguish Jubilee Alliance Party (JAP) internal wrangles.
Jubilee’s affiliate party officials in Coast have been split since 2013 over a power struggle and the problem escalated in February when Mombasa businessman Suleiman Shahbal and key opponent of Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho led several CORD politicians to join The National Alliance (TNA).
Shahbal and former Changamwe MP Ramadhan Kajembe who was ODM vice chairman defected to TNA raising the party’s stature in Coast but the defection sparked anxiety among old Jubilee officials who felt the wealthy businessman and his colleagues had come to upstage them.
They also claimed Shahbal and his group were receiving better attention from TNA and Jubilee. At one time, nominated TNA Senator Emma Mbura stormed out of a Jubilee meeting in Mombasa claiming the new defectors were displaying a sense of entitlement.
Many months later these differences still exist and reappeared during the planning of the President's meeting with JAP officials at State House Mombasa. There were reports that different officials allied to Shahbal and JAP official Ali Mwatsahu prepared rival lists of delegates sparking a brief stand off at State House.
Mwatsahu’s group was not allowed into State House on Wednesday and the next day he called a press conference to denounce Shahbal’s group claiming “these visitors are determined to take over the party,” in apparent reference to the recent defectors from CORD.
Before Shahbal’s defection Jubilee officials in Coast read from different scripts claiming the United Republican Party had benefited more from state officials but now different officials appear to have taken sides on or against Shahbal.
Kajembe who is in the Shahbal led group is being fronted to be JAP’s national vice chairman, which could place him on a collision course with JAP’s interim chairman Nelson Dzuya who hails from Kilifi county.
“We held the meeting on Monday with the President and discussed many issues. We requested him to consider some of the JAP officials who have stood with him in the appointments and other jobs,” said JAP’s Mombasa Branch Secretary General Ibrahim Khamis.
The group that met the President on Tuesday comprised 30 leaders including Khamis, Suleiman Shahbal JAP Chairman, his Deputy Rashid Shakombo, Organising Secretary Matano Chengo and Kajembe who is a member. At the meeting the President held on Wednesday, it emerged that there were grumbles in JAP over Uhuru’s move to meet ODM MPs instead of his party officials.
JAP officials who attended the meeting said the President made it clear that whoever wants to back his bid in the 2017 elections would have to dissolve its party and join the JAP bandwagon.
“The President was clear that we would hold grassroots election to elect the party officials and end these wrangles. He was clear that he would work with those who strive to bring all together,” said Ms Farida Rashid, a coast leader.
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