The powerful party organ giving Uhuru, Ruto sleepless nights

That there is a vicious fight for the heart and soul of the ruling Jubilee Party among its political luminaries is an open secret. But insider details can now reveal why the battle to control the National Management Committee is of such vital importance for President Uhuru Kenyatta and his rival, Deputy President William Ruto.

Mr Kenyatta, through Secretary-General (SG) Raphael Tuju, has been attempting to fill vacancies in the party’s National Management Committee (NMC), a move that has been opposed by Dr Ruto.

Insiders Monday told the Nation that the committee wields a lot of power and can overrule the National Executive Council (NEC) in the day-to-day running of the party.

NEC members are Mr Kenyatta, Dr Ruto, party chairman Nelson Dzuya, vice chairman David Murathe, Mr Tuju, deputy SG Caleb Kositany, the national treasurer, the deputy treasurer, the organising secretary and the deputy organising secretary.

Others are majority leaders in both Houses Aden Duale (National Assembly) and Kipchumba Murkomen (Senate) as well as Chief Whips Benjamin Washiali (National Assembly) and Susan Kihika (Senate) by virtue of the positions they hold in Parliament.

“Since they (President’s camp) don’t have the majority in the NEC, they are trying to illegally put up a National Management Committee that they can easily bulldoze their wishes through,” Mr Kositany told the Nation.

“The NMC is a creation of the NEC and any changes therein can only be effected after an official resolution of an NEC meeting, which has not happened,” said Mr Kositany.

But Mr Tuju has defended the five names published by the party on Saturday among them Lucy Nyaguthii Macharia, Prof Marete Marangu, former Kitutu Masaba MP Walter Nyambati, Jane Nampaso and James Waweru.

The notice, Mr Tuju said, “was published pursuant to sections 20 (1) (c) and 20 (2) of the Political Parties Act No. 11 of 2011 and was simply a routine which is a requirement by the Political Parties Act.

“That’s what the Political Parties Act says. The law says that we publish (then) listen to the reactions from the public and (once) the 14 days are over, we will be able to have a team which consists of Jubilee members and even those outside Jubilee to consider all the representations made by members of the public if any,” Mr Tuju said.

Nyeri Town MP Wambugu Ngunjiri, a member of the Kieleweke faction of Jubilee supporting the President, said the fears in the Ruto camp are as a result of the fact that “the party constitution allows the NMC to act on behalf of the NEC.”

“Clearly the DP did not know this,” he said. The Nation has reliably learnt that President Kenyatta’s camp supports the formation of a team of “loyalists who will now plan for the party elections.”

“This will be the last nail on the coffin for the Tangatanga brigade. I can tell you that they will not hold any position in this party because they have shown the world that they are rebels who do not support the president’s agenda,” a party insider disclosed.

He said the DP’s team are hell-bent on ensuring that the party fails to hold elections thereby falling afoul of the requirements of the Political Parties Act and face “deregistration because they have realised they cannot have control of it.”

“Whatever they are currently engaged in are sideshows to delay party compliance. They hope that, through their delaying tactics, the party will be deregistered so that it is a lose-lose situation for both camps. They are in for a rude shock.”

Mr Ngunjiri pointed out that Dr Ruto initially thought he could control the party using the NEC but “has been outwitted through reorganisation of NMC which is now fully in place.”

“The party NEC doesn’t really exist and the NMC has the power to do whatever the NEC can do. So the President does not need the NEC to make changes to the party leadership anywhere, including in Parliament. Which is where he is going next,” said Mr Ngunjiri.

It is based on these fears that Dr Ruto is seeking to block the NMC from being composed to save his lieutenants from losing their strategic parliamentary positions as their removal is likely to weaken his support in Parliament and puncture his 2022 presidential ambitions.

Cherangany MP Joshua Kuttuny said the party’s parliamentary leadership has failed in their roles and have proved to be a stumbling block in the President’s “achievement of his Big Four agenda.”

“There is need to have government officials speak in one voice and this has been lacking because of the DP’s renegades. It is now time they are removed and it will happen,” said Mr Kuttuny.

Mr Duale, Mr Murkomen, Mr Washiali, and Ms Kihika are in Dr Ruto’s camp and could be the main losers in the planned reorganisation. Some of the DP’s allies have accused the party of effecting illegal changes with an aim of “swindling party coffers.”

Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei said Mr Tuju had failed to convene National Executive Council, the National Governing Council, the Parliamentary Group meeting) or even the National Delegates Conference because he did not want to tell party members how their funds are spent.

“We pay Sh10,000 monthly. We are also funded by public coffers. Tuju as the accounting officer has failed to convene any meeting to tell us how our money is spent,” he said.

“So they are introducing a new NMC members so that they spend public money without accountability which is pure corruption and greed,” added the Nandi Senator.

He vowed to write to the auditor-general to give them details of the breakdown on money released to parties especially Jubilee. Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa questioned why an advert placed by Mr Tuju in the press on Saturday lacked party logo.

Mr Tuju warned against any Jubilee member halting their monthly contributions to the party noting that it could mean they have resigned from the party and “will be a threat to their positions.”

Political analyst Herman Manyora says a good politician must get to grips with the reality, noting that the DP “was biting more than he can chew in his fights with President Kenyatta for the control of Jubilee party.”

“A good politician knows what is and what is not possible. An intelligent politician knows what he can move, if he can move it and how he can move it,” Mr Manyora said.