President Uhuru Kenyatta’s party yesterday held a retreat to iron out key issues as it prepares for the next General Election.

Among the issues discussed at the meeting were the credibility of the looming nominations and strategies to steady the party in the face of discontent from members who were left out of campaign teams set up by the President and his deputy William Ruto two weeks ago.

To assure its members of free and fair nominations, the party has formally requested the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to supervise its party primaries to stem any fall-outs.

“The secretariat has written to the IEBC to understand the requirements needed to carry out the exercise,” Head of Secretariat Raphael Tuju told journalists yesterday at Elementaita Country Lodge, where he chaired the meeting.

FIRM STAND

It was the first meeting for the new team that will manage the party’s affairs up to the next General Election.

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“As the President and his deputy have reiterated before, none will interfere with the nominations. The exercise will be carried out by IEBC and the presidential campaign team will have no role to play,” said Mr Tuju.

“We were discussing our roadmap. We have also decided to take a firm stand towards ensuring that our aspirants are fully informed of our activities and none of our members should be left behind. We are working around those strategies,” said the party’s acting Secretary General Veronica Maina.

She added that the party’s National Election Board will be tasked with dealing with party nominations, including nomination fees for candidates.

“We are forming the National Election Board and will be making information on nomination fee public by the third week of November,” she said.

The retreat marks the first step in the new party’s bid to put its house in order in the run-up to the next election.

Mr Kenyatta’s re-election vehicle has run into unexpected headwinds, with concerned politicians faulting him and Ruto for including aspiring candidates in their re-election team, saying that would give them undue advantage during nominations.

The unveiling of a 61-member campaign team during the party’s National Delegates Conference at Bomas of Kenya has led to resentment in the party’s strongholds of Rift Valley and Central regions where those who feel left out have expressed fears of a skewed nomination exercise.

Yesterday, however, the team’s top officials sought to allay fears of favouritism, saying those picked to lead the presidential campaign have no role in the nominations.

Tuju said Jubilee is committed to transforming the party’s nominations process to come out of the appalling culture of intimidation, violence, hooliganism, thuggery and blood-letting.

DEVOLVE CAMPAIGNS

“The auctioning of nomination certificates to the highest bidder, family members and relatives of party bosses has denied Kenyans the representation they desire, most importantly curtailing the rise of women and persons living with disability to leadership positions,” Tuju said.

Other officials of the party are senators John Munyes and Beatrice Elachi, Governor Ken Lusaka and MPs Katoo ole Metito, Sabina Chege, Maina Kamanda, Gideon Mung’aro, Mohamud Mohamed and Rachel Nyamai.

Separately, Leader of Majority in the National Assembly Aden Duale, who is among those in the Jubilee campaign team, said the party will devolve its campaigns to the counties in the next few weeks.

“We are now ready to take our campaigns to the counties. We are gearing to set up party offices and recruitment offices across the country,” said Mr Duale.

During the party’s retreat, the officials also discussed the inclusion of women and youths in party affairs, including proposals that could see members of marginalised groups pay lower nomination fees and also included in mainstream party activities.

“The secretariat is beginning to be fully operational. But the most important message is to assure people in special categories that they are being mainstreamed,” said Maina.