Ngilu is welcome, says Jubilee

Narc leader Charity Ngilu is welcome to the Jubilee Coalition, the alliance’s officials said on Tuesday.

The coalition issued a statement Tuesday night to clarify what it termed as “misconceptions” over Mrs Ngilu’s involvement in the alliance.

The Water Minister had expressed shock at her surprise exclusion from the alliance’s presidential primaries, after spending the day drumming up support for the alliance in her Kitui backyard.

She said she had secured a commitment from the coalition’s leaders to participate in the nominations.

“The Jubilee Coalition would like to clarify that Mrs Ngilu is welcome as a partner contrary to a misconception that is doing rounds in the media,” a statement signed by TNA’s Johnson Sakaja, UDF’s Hassan Osman and URP’s Francis ole Kaparo said.

The three party chairmen said they were unanimous that the Narc party together with Mrs Ngilu were part of the alliance and will sign a cooperation agreement to enable her participate in the coalition’s activities.

Mrs Ngilu said she will issue a statement on the way forward after talking to both Mr Uhuru Kenyatta (TNA) and Mr William Ruto (URP).

Officials of the Jubilee Coalition had on Tuesday said that the Narc leader will not participate in its presidential primaries because a new pre-election coalition could not be formed as the December 4 deadline had lapsed.

However, the minister who was accompanied by Mutito MP Kiema Kilonzo said it would be a big blunder if her coalition partners locked her out of the presidential primaries.

Mrs Ngilu is today scheduled to meet all primary and secondary school head teachers to market her coalition with the Jubilee Coalition.

Meanwhile, talks on a formula of sharing out delegates who will pick the coalition’s presidential candidate have hit a deadlock.

A formula for selecting the 5,029 delegates was still being discussed after the parties disagreed on a proposal to reserve 1,034 slots to both TNA and URP before the rest are shared out.

According to the proposal, the number of registered party members would determine how many of the remaining delegate slots the coalition partners will send to the Presidential Nomination Convention scheduled for Tuesday next week.

Sources said a proposal to use consensus and inter-coalition consultations was also on the cards.

However, the chairmen of the coalition’s member parties have assured their supporters that the formula was being fine-tuned by a technical team.

Deputy Prime Ministers Uhuru Kenyatta (TNA) and Musalia Mudavadi (UDF) are expected to face off for the coalition’s presidential ticket, with Eldoret North MP William Ruto (URP) as the running mate.