Uhuru dilemma with DP allies atop Senate list

Jubilee activist, Beatrice Gambo [left] explains to Likoni women how to load Jubilee's smart card into a mobile phone during the launch of the party smart card at Likoni in Mombasa County. 500 women participated in the exercise. [Omondi Onyango, Standard]

President Uhuru Kenyatta is facing a major political dilemma in replacing the six ousted nominated senators, as some of their potential replacements are allies of Deputy President William Ruto.

United Democratic Alliance (UDA) Secretary General Veronica Maina is among the top names in a closed party list filed with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), making her an automatic pick should the six lose their seats.

Nominated Senators Isaac Mwaura, Millicent Omanga, Mary Seneta, Falhada Dekow, Naomi Waqo and Victor Prengei have been expelled for associating with Dr Ruto.

It would be interesting to see how Jubilee wiggles around the dilemma since ending up with another set of allies of Ruto will not achieve the intended purpose of the purge.

The other potential replacements may also kick up a storm over regional balance, as the two top nominees are from Murang’a County, while another is from Nakuru. Most of the expelled senators were either from the marginalised or minority communities. For instance, Mr Prengei is from the minority Ogiek community, while Ms Waqo, Ms Falhada and Ms Senata are from the Borana, Somali and Maasai communities. Mr Mwaura is Kikuyu while Ms Omanga is Kisii.

Article 98 of the Constitution requires political parties to nominate 16 women, according to the proportion of members of the Senate elected, and two other nominees being one man and one woman, representing the youth, one man and one woman representing persons with disabilities.

The lists apply according to the priority set out by political parties, implying that the higher a candidate is on the lists of their respective political parties, the higher their chances of being nominated.

Therefore, should the party effect the ouster, the six will be replaced by Caroline Daudi (Machakos), Veronica Maina (Murang’a), Francisca Kamuren (Nakuru) and Beatrice Gambo (Coast).

Mwaura, who was picked to represent persons with disability, would be replaced by Joyce Amasong, who is listed under the same category while Prengei, who represents the youth, will be replaced by Peris Wambui from Murang’a County.

It has emerged that the potential dilemma in replacing the senators was the main reason in the delay, by National Executive Council (NEC), to implement removal of the five senators even after a report by the Disciplinary Committee recommended their ouster.

The committee made recommendations against the five mid-last year and only revived the process after Mwaura was drugged through a similar process in February.

However, Jubilee Secretary General Raphael Tuju said there was no dilemma. He said the party will review the membership status of the nominees before they are considered for nomination.

Tuju ruled out the nomination of Veronica saying she is no longer a member of Jubilee after she was picked as an official of UDA.

“She is the Secretary-General of UDA. That means she cannot be nominated by Jubilee to the Senate. Again, some of the people on the list to the IEBC stopped paying their membership fees. We will have to review the status of each nominee before settling on individuals to nominate,” said Tuju.

On Friday, the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal declined to issue conservatory orders barring the Registrar of Political Parties from removing Mwaura’s name from the membership of Jubilee Party.

The tribunal’s dismissal of the case now puts the senators at the mercy of President Uhuru Kenyatta as party leader on whether they will keep their jobs.

Registrar of Political Parties Ann Nderitu said the decision to complete the removal process now lies with the party.

“The ball is in the court of JP to write to the office of the registrar interpreting the ruling and the instructions to delete them from the party’s list,” said Nderitu.

Yesterday Tuju also confirmed writing to the registrar to immediately effect the changes against the six nominated senators.

“We have officially written to the registrar of parties to have the names removed from the Jubilee membership roll,” he said.

But Soy MP Caleb Kositany said they would battle the ouster of the lawmakers to the Supreme Court and expressed confidence the troubled senators would serve their full term.

He said in the event they are removed; the party would have to pick from the list that is already with the electoral commission.

“There’s no way they can nominate from outside the list that is with the IEBC. But even before we get there, we are going to exploit all the appeal mechanism provided for in the law,” said Mr Kositany.

He added: “I can tell you the senators will serve their term to the end. They have done no wrong. It is just victimisation.”

The six found themselves in bad books with Jubilee after it accused them of being disloyal.

The senators failed to turn up for the Senate Parliamentary Group meeting convened by the President in State House, Nairobi in June last year to endorse the removal of senators Kipchumba Murkomen (Elgeyo/Marakwet) and Susan Kihika (Nakuru) as majority leader and majority whip, respectively.