Special team to run Jubilee affairs
Kiambu Senator Kimani Wamatangi (left) with his Meru counterpart Kiraitu Murungi at Safaricom Kasarani Stadium, Nairobi, during the launch of Jubilee Party. PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Party officials, who sought anonymity, on Wednesday said the new National Oversight Board would be the political face of the JP.
- The move can be seen as part of the efforts to contain the infighting over the NEC positions.
- Names of the President, as party leader and Mr Ruto, as deputy party leader, were added to the list of officials that was sent to the Registrar of Political Parties, Ms Lucy Ndung’u, after the ratification of the new party last Friday.
- President Kenyatta and his deputy have declared that aspirants of elective seats will not be allowed to be officials of the party.
The Jubilee Party has agreed to form a powerful eight-member organ, headed by President Uhuru Kenyatta, which will have the final say on all party issues.
This comes as the party, unable to form a 77-member National Executive Committee (NEC) it promised before its launch, devises ways to absorb representatives of 11 political outfits, which merged to form the JP last week.
Party officials, who sought anonymity, on Wednesday said the new National Oversight Board would be the political face of the JP, on whose ticket President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, Mr William Ruto, will seek re-election.
The members will comprise key politicians from the former eight provinces – Central, Rift Valley, Coast, Western, Nyanza, Eastern, Nairobi, and North Eastern. “They will have the final say on affairs of the party, including solving disputes, which will arise from the party primaries,” said an official.
The move can be seen as part of the efforts to contain the infighting over the NEC positions that prompted President Kenyatta and Mr Ruto to revert to the officials of the former Jubilee Alliance Party (JAP) to hold, on an interim basis, the posts in the new party.
It is understood that only the names of the President, as party leader and Mr Ruto, as deputy party leader, were added to the list of officials that was sent to the Registrar of Political Parties, Ms Lucy Ndung’u, after the ratification of the new party last Friday.
RETAINED SEATS
It means that Mr Nelson Dzuya (chairman), former Gatanga MP David Murathe (vice-chairman), Ms Veronica Maina (secretary-general), Mr Caleb Kositany and Ms Fatuma Mohamoud (deputy secretary-general), Mr Alfred Korir (treasurer) and Mr Abdul Hajji (organising secretary), who were JAP officials, retained their seats in the new party. It is significant to note that JAP did not dissolve, but was renamed JP.
The officials said the identification of prominent politicians will be left to each region. President Kenyatta and Mr Ruto have already filled the slots for Central and Rift Valley regions, respectively.
“Each of the regions will have to agree on one leader to become a member of the board. For instance, Coast will have to choose between (Malindi North MP Gideon) Mung’aro and (former Cabinet Secretary) Kazungu Kambi,” said an official.
To give the party a national outlook, the officials said Mr Kositany, who is eyeing the Turbo parliamentary seat in the 2017 poll, will quit as deputy secretary-general for someone from the former Alliance Party of Kenya.
Mr Nixon Korir, the JP executive director, will relinquish post, as he is interested in the Lang’ata seat. The post, it was said, would be taken over by Ms Maina, leaving the secretary-general’s position to a representative of the dissolved New Ford-Kenya.
President Kenyatta and his deputy have declared that aspirants of elective seats will not be allowed to be officials of the party.
