JP threatens action after MP hits out at President

Jubilee Party yesterday warned of action against renegade members after Kandara MP Alice Wahome (pictured) criticised President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Exactly one year after a similar surprise criticism of the president, she was it again yesterday, in a four-page statement, faulting the priorities of the Jubilee administration in fulfilling its election pledges.

She accused President Kenyatta of planning to retain power when he exits the top job in next year’s General Election.

But in a quick response to the statement, Jubilee Party Vice Chairman David Murathe said Wahome was clearly speaking on behalf of Tangatanga.

“You cannot continue insulting the president, thinking he is a lame-duck. She doesn’t know what is coming,” said Murathe

He warned that the party will take stern action against all party members who have been disrespectful to the party leadership and were advancing other parties’ ideologies.

Wahome claimed that what she had said last year had come to pass.

She criticised the Building Bridges Initiative document, which is due for a referendum, saying that it was being foisted upon Kenyans.

The politician, a close ally of Deputy President William Ruto, said several Kenyans, including those under the Hustler Movement banner, had rejected proposals contained in the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI).

She said if a constitutional change was going to happen in the country, it must be based on national consensus and a well-informed comprehensive audit of the 2010 Constitution on what has and has not been implemented.

“President Uhuru is attempting to walk the path of changing the Constitution to retain control of state power once out of State House. We must reject this new tactic,” claimed Wahome.

She said the BBI is not urgent and that all energies should be directed at salvaging the economy, ensuring the survival of its people and saving their livelihoods and dignity.

She warned that Kenyans would regret long if they allow an amendment of the Constitution.

The MP accused the president of militarising the State and rolling back the devolution gains

“I want to warn Kenyans that they will collectively bear the brunt of the democratic regression. Freedoms – real and imagined – are going to be curtailed even as economic deprivations and inequality deepen,” she wrote in the statement.

The BBI referendum is expected to take place in June.