Hatuko Pamoja, Jubilee's journey to bitter fall out

The slogan chosen for the party was instructive.

“Tuko Pamoja”, Swahili for We are together, was perfect for a big party.

And if the slogan didn’t tell you clearly enough, Jubilee Party’s logo - two clasped hands - drove the point home. 

In September 2016, eleven political parties under the ruling Jubilee Coalition merged and launched one party, the Jubilee Party.

The parties that made Jubilee were The National Alliance (TNA) and Deputy President Ruto’s United Republican Party (URP).

Others were Jubilee Alliance Party (JAP), New Ford Kenya, United Democratic Forum (UDF), National Rainbow Coalition, Ford People, the Republican Congress Party (RC), Tip Tip, the United Party of Kenya (UPK), the Grand National Unity (GNU).

It was Kenya’s attempt at a big political party, one which accommodated the ideals of all that that folded up and came together.

During its launch at Kasarani Stadium, President Uhuru Kenyatta said Jubilee Party was crafted from “mistakes of past political formations” which have been “nothing more than special purpose vehicles to elect selfish leaders, or enclaves designed to protect tribal interests.”

President Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto’s party modelled itself on China’s Communist Party and South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC).

When the adhesive was still strong, the party sent delegations to Beijing to benchmark with CCP and another to Johannesburg, South Africa to learn from ANC. 

But hardly a year went by before Jubilee turned in to the same thing it was protesting against.

“Every shade of opinion will have its say in this party. Every member will get a fair hearing,” Uhuru, who is the Jubilee Party leader had said.

But while the two leaders were alive to the interests of many individual parties in a coalition pulling it apart, they were blind to their own ambitions and intent.

Uhuru saw a party that would ensure he left a legacy, Ruto saw the means for his succeeding Uhuru.

And the shambolic party nominations, grumbling about favouritism and claims of strong candidates from Mt Kenya region being edged out in favour of upstarts, erupted.

It was not long before the two poles emerged. And long before the world heard of coronavirus and stopped shaking hands, Jubilee leaders started practising political social distancing.

The young and ambitious leaders stuck on Ruto whom they saw as the future of the party and the country.

The other side had the president’s loyaists.

Enter ODM leader Raila Odinga, with the handshake and the the final chapter of Jubilee’s short story was written. There were concerns, and later, regret.

A wedge, in the name of Raila, split the party, Ruto would later say when attempting to explain his falling out with Uhuru.

Ruto has on several occasions claimed that President Kenyatta arbitrarily co-opted the Opposition into Jubilee.

Uhuru responded to those claims on Wednesday when he tore in to his deputy and made a case for his support for Raila.

What Jubilee attempted wasn’t new, only the scale was bigger. 

In 2007, the former president Mwai Kibaki merged parties and formed the Party of National Unity.

In an 2018 interview with The Standard on Sunday, Meru Governor Kiraitu Murungi, who served in the secretariat that advised on the dissolution of the parties, described Jubilee Party as ‘a good idea come too soon.”

“We wanted to have one huge party that would bring Kenyans together; the president and his deputy were committed because they felt that was the way to bring Kenyans together,” Kiraitu said then. 

“Notably, Kenyans are not ready for such an eventuality.”