Team picked by UhuRuto will midwife Jubilee Party

President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto are set to constitute a committee that will work on the logistics of launching the new Jubilee Party by September.

Fourteen political parties seeking to join the Jubilee Party are expected to dissolve by the end of next month at a joint national delegates conference (NDC).

National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale and Former Cabinet Minister Noah Wekesa said that only after dissolution of at least 14 political units will the new party be formed.

Mr Duale spoke after accompanying the Deputy President to State House on Monday evening to hand over the party’s interim constitution, nomination rules, election rules and merger documents to President Kenyatta.

He said the parties, which include The National Alliance, United Republican Party, New Ford-Kenya, Alliance Party of Kenya and United Democratic Forum, will be wound up after the NDC before the end of August. “We will dissolve all parties at the conference and everybody will transit to the Jubilee Party. They have been given a one-month notice to dissolve,” he said on the phone. So far, only New Ford Kenya has announced its dissolution.

The Garissa Township MP said it was now up to President Kenyatta and his deputy to announce the date of the NDC and the appointment of the Jubilee Party’s top organ: the national executive committee (NEC).

Dr Wekesa, who co-chairs the JP national steering committee with Meru Senator Kiraitu Murungi, said they had concluded work on the preparation of all documents for registration, among them the merger pact.

“As a steering committee, our work has come to an end. We’ve prepared the interim documents, including the merger pact which we crafted together with Ms Lucy Ndung’u, the Registrar of Political Parties,” he said on the phone.

He said they met Mr Ruto on Monday to brief him on the progress.

“We met the Deputy President because we have been working very closely. He will brief Mkubwa (President Kenyatta),” he said.

The former Kwanza MP said they had created all structures of the party, from the national level to the polling station, “factoring in devolution. Most activities such as nominations will be done at county level”.

PARTIES' STRENGTH

He explained that they set the strength of each party in the last elections as the weight it will carry in JP, on an interim basis, including the number of NEC officials.

He was hopeful that President Kenyatta and Mr Ruto would make “rational decisions” when constituting the NEC to ensure that members from certain regions don’t feel left out. “Areas in which Jubilee is fishing from, such as Western, should be well represented so that locals can have a sense of belonging,” he said.

“The parties’ strengths and performance in the last elections will dictate which positions they can hold,” said a top official.

The most sought-after seats are those of chairman and secretary-general. New Ford Kenya has already laid claim to the position of secretary-general, with Mr Murungi interested in the national chairman’s position.

The NEC will be made up of 77 members, all to be filled by Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto on an interim basis.

Nominated Senator Martha Wangari defended the move to have such a big NEC. “This is the first truly national party since multiparty politics was reintroduced in Kenya in 1992. All parties have been struggling to have a national face, which Jubilee will achieve,” she said.

Plans have also been put in place to ensure that parliamentary and senatorial candidates who lose party primaries are nominated to the National Assembly, Senate and county assemblies, or are given pre-election assurances of top public jobs after elections.

The committee proposed earlier dates for nominations—up to two months before the due date—to have ample time for dispute resolution and repeat polls, if necessary.

“We do not want a situation where losers run to other parties. We will give them priority in nominations and appointment to other public offices,” Dr Wekesa told the Nation.

The Jubilee Party was initiated by President Kenyatta and his deputy with the aim of having a powerful party that unites Kenyans. The duo will defend the presidency on a JP ticket in the next elections. In the party’s nomination and elections rules, the National Elections Board will play only an oversight role over the 47 coordinating committees that will run the primaries.

All issues related to party primaries will be dealt with by the regional coordinating officials. The national board will come on board only to arbitrate cases.

Report by Wanjohi Githae, Isaac Ongiri and Bernard Namunane.