DP Ruto hosts leaders in push for support of Jubilee Party

Deputy President William Ruto will Monday host 6,000 Rift Valley leaders at his Sugoi home in Uasin Gishu County to sell the new Jubilee Party.

Governors, senators, members of the national assembly and MCAs from North, Central and South Rift regions are among those invited for the meeting scheduled to begin at 9am.

Jubilee Party is the political vehicle that President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy plan to use to seek re-election in the August 2017 General Election. The Sugoi meeting comes on the back of opposition from some leaders comes on the back of opposition from some leaders in the region who have insisted that they will not join the new party.

Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto and Kuresoi South MP Zakayo Cheruiyot have said they will not join the Jubilee Party, which President Kenyatta and his deputy rallied Jubilee coalition leaders to market during a meeting at State House last week.

Keiyo South MP Jackson Kiptanui confirmed that they have been invited by the Deputy President for the meeting that will also be used to discuss other issues of importance to the community.

“Indeed, the meeting will be there. We will use it to discuss several issues of importance in our region,” said Mr Kiptanui.

Chesumei MP Elijah Lagat said the meeting will discuss the Jubilee Party, which seeks to replace the United Republican Party (URP).

Speaking on Friday in Abosi village, Narok County during the burial of Joshua Ngeno Sigilai, Governor Ruto welcomed the move by President Kenyatta and his deputy to dissolve their parties, saying this would give members freedom to form or join parties of their choice.

Ruto criticised the formation of the Jubilee Party that he claims was imposed on them.

“People were invited for talks recently on the pretext of consultations yet the decision to form the party had been already made. I am not joining the Jubilee Party because just like the Jubilee Alliance Party (JAP), its formation is devoid of consultation,” he said.

Demanded consultation

“We have always demanded consultation but no one seems to heed this. What we saw last Tuesday amounted to coercion, not consultation. How do you invite leaders to inform them that a party has already been formed?” asked the Bomet governor.

URP, the deputy president’s party, is among the first parties that were ready to dissolve by the December 18 alongside JAP, TNA, the United Democratic Forum (UDF), New Ford Kenya and the Alliance Party of Kenya, as had been planned by the Jubilee coalition’s steering committee led by Meru Senator Kiraitu Murungi and former minister Noah Wekesa.

The affiliate parties that make up the ruling coalition include the Party of National Unity (PNU), Republican National Congress (RNC), Narc, Chama cha Uma (CCU), Kanu and Ford People

Kanu, Narc allied to former Lands CS Charity Ngilu, CCU headed by former Assistant Minister Wavinya Ndeti and DP have indicated that they will not be joining JPK.

In today’s meeting, the deputy president will seek to assure anxious URP supporters who celebrated its formation in 2012 that all will be well.

URP is a strong political outfit in the Rift Valley, which sponsored majority of the elected leaders in the 2013 polls and the planned dissolution of the party has aroused suspicion among some supporters in the North Rift region who fear their bargaining power in Government will be watered down.

Those who support dissolution of smaller parties said the new political outfit would have structures at both national and county levels and would unite all citizens unlike “smaller parties that are regional”.

Kiprotich Cherargei, a youth leader and Eldoret-based lawyer, said URP should have been made stronger for future leverage.

Paul Kiprop, a close ally of DP Ruto however dismissed those opposed to the merger. “Jubilee Party is the way to go and we will fully support it. Tutapigia debe mpaka watakubali (we will campaign for the party until they accept it),” said Mr Kiprop.