Raphael Tuju to head Jubilee Party team as Uhuru moves to stem protest

Raphael Tuju

Top Jubilee leadership moved fast to stem possible fallout in the party by naming former minister Raphael Tuju as Jubilee Party (JP) secretary general and head of secretariat.

The move came as some JP aspirants protested against naming of their rivals in the campaign team unveiled by President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto on Friday. Other party members fear failure to name interim national officials would further escalate political jostling in counties.

In a meeting chaired by the President at State House Nairobi yesterday morning, Uhuru further named a nine-member team, populated by sitting MPs and Senators, to work with Tuju.

Unveiled alongside the secretary general as “officials without clear portfolio” are Senators John Munyes and Beatrice Elachi, Governor Ken Lusaka and MPs Katoo ole Metito, Sabina Chege, Maina Kamanda, Gideon Mng’aro, Mohamud Mohamed and Rachel Nyamai.

Sources told The Standard on Sunday that the team of nine could not be immediately allocated specific positions in the party because they are yet to sign a set of documents, among them an undated letter, before clear duties are assigned to them. The contents of the said documents remained scanty by the time of going to press.

The appointments, coming in the wake of Friday’s unveiling of a bloated “Jubilee Presidential Campaign Team”, was seen as a stop-gap measure against the wave of protests which began right on the floor of the Bomas of Kenya meeting.

While announcing the appointment of Tuju, President Kenyatta explained that the team named on Friday was tasked with planning and organising party meetings and rallies to explain Jubilee agenda. The team will be meeting every two weeks for planning.

There are fears that by naming the 61-member campaign committee, top Jubilee leadership had effectively endorsed the candidacies of the team members who are running for elective office. There were also complains that some regions and counties were not represented in the list.

Preferred candidates

“We have said time and again that JP will not favour any candidate. We want to make it a strong party which upholds democracy without favoring anyone,” Deputy President Ruto sought to assure Jubilee supporters while touring Nyeri yesterday.

He reiterated that both he and the president do not have preferred candidates and urged the new team to serve all without bias. He told them to “cede ground so that other people can join Jubilee”.

Ruto was speaking in the heartland of a budding rebellion against the party’s leadership approach. Governor Nderitu Gachagua and Nyeri Town MP Esther Murungi were named in the seven-member team to coordinate campaigns in Central.

Majority Leader in the National Assembly Aden Duale also pleaded with party membership to support President Kenyatta and Ruto’s resolve to sell the party across the country. He also defended the new team of 61.

“We want to make it clear that the team nominated is only a campaign organ which will coordinate vigorous campaigns in all the 47 counties. All incumbents and aspiring candidates have a level playing ground and they should bring all people together,” Duale said.

He gave the examples of Kiambu and Nairobi counties where the main JP aspirants for the gubernatorial seats - William Kabogo and Ferdinand Waititu in Kiambu and Mike Sonko, Dennis Waweru, Johnson Sakaja and Margaret Wanjiru for Nairobi - have been lumped together in one regional campaign team.

“They are all under firm instruction to work together to strengthen the party. Contrary to the misguided few, this strategy will strengthen the party rather than divide it,” Duale said.

Maara MP Kareke Mbiuki said the new list was a disservice to aspirants who fear those picked were endorsed by the President and his deputy. “The demand of the aspirants to have a non-partisan team is legitimate and their issue has not been sorted. Most of those picked are politicians with future interest and they may use their positions to scare off their opponents,” said Mbiuki.

The MP, however, called on JP supporters to appreciate that the party has an interim office, and what is remaining is only to confirm them.

“They are the defacto party officials. Let us appreciate the strides as we strive to make the system better,” said Mbiuki. But despite the spirited defence, sections of party membership have continued to express their dissatisfaction with the choice of the team.

Simon Mithamo, a hopeful for the Laikipia Senate seat, and Nyeri leader Joseph Kimuri said failure to name interim national officials would further escalate political jostling in the counties.

Mithamo said he had hoped that an interim national team would be named to guide competition at the grassroots. Instead, the party has both created a vacuum and added more confusion by selecting “a bunch of politicians” to further increase confusion in the grassroots, he said.

The same sentiments were echoed by former Nyeri Jubilee Alliance Party (JAP) Chairman Wambugu Nyamu, who said the new system intended at scaring off aspirants. He said political aspirants eyeing the various positions in JP have been short changed.

“The system will not work at all. We are now demanding as Nyeri aspirants that the president call JP grassroots elections because we will not accept to work with either Governor Nderitu or Ms Murugi who were picked to represent the region,” said Nyamu.

Grassroots elections

Like Mithamo, Nyamu said failure to call for grassroots elections will only create divisions in Mt Kenya region, which will give make many aspirants no choice but to vie on other parties supporting Kenyatta other than JP.

He added: “We expected a fully structured interim national office who will give guidance to supporters in the grassroots. We should now expect an emergence of wars in the grassroots as aspirants fight for control of the party with the incumbents”.

Engineer Kimuri said he was disappointed that the that JP has been reduced to “party for a few people” despite President Kenyatta’s assurances.