Jubilee Party leaders meet to quell growing anxiety

President Uhuru Kenyatta, his Deputy William Ruto and Meru Senator Kiraitu Murungi will meet this week to address growing anxiety among members and supporters over the delay in naming Jubilee Party officials.

Currently only President Kenyatta and Mr Ruto are designated as Party Leader and Deputy Party Leader respectively, with other positions remaining vacant.

Mr Murungi, who co-chaired a team that worked on the formation of the party, said the meeting will look at the progress made in the formation of JP structures.

There has been concern over a lull in activities of the party in which President Kenyatta and his deputy hope to seek re-election since its hyped up launch in August.

Its magnificent office in Pangani has remained deserted.

On Saturday, Mr Murungi, who addressed journalists in Igembe South MP Mithika Linturi’s home in Meru, however, exuded confidence that all was well in the party.

He said the Pangani JP office was unoccupied because it was yet to be furnished.

The Meru senator, who was with Mr Linturi and Woman Rep Florence Kajuju, said mobilisation for JP would soon begin, saying the party would rule the country for long.

“We are going to support Uhuru Kenyatta in 2017 and in 2022 William Ruto will be President. Between now and 2032, JP will be the ruling party. People should plan to be in the ruling party or the opposition,” Mr Murungi said.

“There is concern that when we left Kasarani after the big launch, nothing has happened. There are no people at the headquarters.”

He added: “The office was not complete. It is being partitioned before officials move in. You can’t move to a house without furniture.”

Mr Murungi, who spoke after returning to the country from China where he led a JP delegation on invitation of the Communist Party of China, said there were also murmurs over lack of JP’s national structures.

“We had left the President and his Deputy to look at the entire structure. We gave them a formula of how parties that formed JP could pick officials depending on their strength before dissolving,” Mr Murungi said.

"The top seats are to be further determined on regional, religious, gender and people with disability basis to reflect the image of the country.”

He said the delay could also have been caused by the weeks long visit to China.

“This week I will be meeting the President and his Deputy to see the progress,” he said.