I am Jubilee Whip in House, Sabina insists

Nominated MP Sabina Chege. [Denis Kibuchi, Standard]

The fight for the soul of Jubilee Party intensified as nominated MP Sabina Chege said she is the party whip in Parliament.

This, even as the Jubilee Secretary-General Jeremiah Kioni insisted that they do not recognise Sabina’s position in the House.

Sabina told The Standard that she was the ="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/politics/article/2001487162/opposition-sues-wetangula-for-favouring-sabina">Jubilee Party Whip< in the National Assembly following a communication made by Speaker Moses Wetang’ula.

She said Jubilee is an independent parliamentary party, which no longer belongs to the Azimio coalition after their 90-day request to leave was not responded to.

The MP said she has the support of 26 MPs elected on the party ticket and that she does not see the need for Azimio coalition leadership to intimidate her. Sabina said she sacrificed a lot during campaigns to have Azimio coalition take over government unsuccessfully.

“You remember very well that some of the people who are fighting us had labelled Jubilee party as being dead. We are working very hard to revive the party. I was called names during campaigns and persevered a lot. The least I expect is mistreatment by the people that I supported,” said Sabina.

The MP said she was occupying Jubilee’s National Assembly Whip position with the support of party legislators and that they are the only ones who can raise concerns if they are not satisfied with her leadership.

She said her job is mainly to coordinate her colleagues to champion for a good course.

Sabina wondered how the ODM party leadership could purport to dictate to the Jubilee party leadership how to conduct its affairs.

She said Azimio is not being recognised as a parliamentary party and its leadership may be afraid that its affiliates might seek to be independent.

Kioni, on his part, said that Sabina had occupied the Azimio coalition Deputy Minority Whip position for long, terming her current position has non-existent.

Kioni said that Sabina had been illegally allocated an office, security, government vehicle and staff due to the new ‘position’.

The former Ndaragwa MP said if Wetang’ula had allocated Chege some perks and other privileges commensurate to her new status, the two of them should be surcharged for wastage of public funds.

He said the National Assembly Speaker does not have any powers to exit the Jubilee party from the Azimio coalition.

Kioni said they will use legal avenues to challenge the move.

The Azimio coalition has sued Wetang’ula, accusing him of giving Sabina preferential treatment arguing that it was illegal for her to be given an office while all constituent parties were left without deputy whips.

Azimio accuses Wetang’ula of placing hurdles on efforts to remove Sabina from Jubilee and Azimio leadership.

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