Jubilee Party is racing against time to assure aspirants that it
will deliver free, fair and credible nominations next month with the
acrimonious setting up of county election boards across the country this
week signalling tough times ahead.
Indications that the much-publicised party membership smart cards
could be out of favour over rigging fears and an earlier announcement
that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) will not
conduct the nominations have piled renewed pressure on the secretariat
and the newly-appointed National Elections Board.
Politicians
like Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko and his opponent Peter Kenneth have
been the most recent high-profile critics of the smart card, claiming
some people had bought them in bulk to distribute during nominations.
Sonko has gone as far as threatening legal action if the party insists
on using them.
Jubilee deputy chairman and head of
strategy Veronica Maina, who was inexplicably removed as
secretary-general and her position taken by Mr Raphael Tuju, scoffed at
suggestions that only 300,000 cards have been activated – a figure given
by some party insiders.
“The activation is an ongoing
process. Every day new cards are being activated, therefore, for someone
to come up with such a number is a lie,” she said.
Senate
Majority Leader Kithure Kindiki said the cards will only be used where
Jubilee does not enjoy huge support. He said it was untenable to have
the cards in areas where Jubilee has a huge following.
JUBILEE ZONE
“For example, in Tharaka Nithi there are only 40,000 people with the cards yet, being a Jubilee zone, there are 200,000 voters. You cannot have 40,000 make decisions for the rest, it would be unfair. And also there is the question of the wealthy candidates acquiring the cards thus sidelining those without financial muscle,” he said.
“For example, in Tharaka Nithi there are only 40,000 people with the cards yet, being a Jubilee zone, there are 200,000 voters. You cannot have 40,000 make decisions for the rest, it would be unfair. And also there is the question of the wealthy candidates acquiring the cards thus sidelining those without financial muscle,” he said.
Prof Kindiki, who is defending his senate seat, said the party is likely to use the IEBC register to conduct the nominations.
This
comes as questions linger on the decision to have recently elected
county boards to supervise elections in different areas appears to have
brought more confusion with some saying it was impractical. The process
was also disrupted in some areas with politicians keen on influencing
appointments. In Nairobi, for example, supporters of Senator Sonko and
Starehe MP Maina Kamanda clashed at Bomas of Kenya over the composition
of the city’s elections board on Thursday.
“You cannot
expect the nominations to be free and fair when the elections of branch
officials were manipulated to favour certain individuals,” an aspirant
for a senatorial seat in one of the counties in Central Kenya told the Nation in confidence.
Securing
the party ticket in Jubilee strongholds is considered a big step
towards a win in August, making next month’s nominations crucial.
Secretary-General
Raphael Tuju downplayed the chaos and assured aspirants that the teams
will be shuffled during nominations to ensure aspirants have no
influence.
“We had the option of just choosing our
people to man the county elections board, but it is our wisdom that we
should involve aspirants. If they choose them well, well and good,” said
Mr Tuju on Thursday.
BRINGS CREDIBILITY
Prof Kindiki lauded the decision of having board members supervise the elections in counties other than theirs.
“This
arrangement brings credibility and confidence to the nominations. Ours
is to have both the process and the outcome of party primaries seen to
be free and fair,” he said.
He said the decision to
transfer board members was arrived at after it was seen that influential
candidates may have their surrogates nominated to the board, thus
creating a perception of bias.
“There is no doubt that Jubilee will win in August; all now we want is to concretise our nomination process,” he said.
The
setting up of the election boards in preparation for the primaries
comes in the middle of a whirlwind series of events that involved a more
receptive attitude towards political parties that support President
Uhuru Kenyatta’s re-election despite an earlier hardline stance. Fear of
Jubilee’s ability to conduct fair and transparent process has led some
prominent party supporters and leaders to flee to other parties.
Most fretful are contenders for various positions in JP strongholds especially in Mt Kenya and Rift Valley regions.
PROMINENT POLITICIANS
In
Embu county, for example, Senator Lenny Kivuti and Deputy Governor
Dorothy Nditi were among prominent politicians who decamped to Maendeleo
Chap Chap of Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua. Mr Kivuti claimed his
rival for Governor Cecily Mbarire, who is also the Runyenjes MP, Speaker
of the National Assembly Justin Muturi and Embu County Assembly Speaker
Kariuki Mate had taken control of the Jubilee systems in the county.
However, Mr Kariuki said that some problems blamed on Jubilee were pre-existing local political dynamics.
“For
instance, in Embu county, we had an agreement, complete with an MoU
spearheaded by Senator Kivuti, in which we had agreed on a formula that
would bring political unity to avoid the the acrimony the current
governor has faced. Things were running smoothly until (Mr) Kivuti
reneged on the MoU, and insisted on running for governor, which had been
reserved for Cecily. You cannot blame this on Jubilee,” Mr Kariuki
said.
In Meru, former Tigania West MP Kilemi Mwiria
also decamped to Maendeleo Chap Chap and Governor Peter Munya is assured
of the PNU ticket following fears that Senator Kiraitu Murungi would
get the Jubilee ticket for the top county seat.
Mr Wambugu Nyamu of the Nyeri County Aspirants’ Forum said members were keenly watching preparations for the primaries.
“We
rejected shambolic elections of branch officials last year. We plan to
lodge the same protest and complaints to the elections board once it is
established. Our concern is that the mechanisms must be representative
of both those in office and aspirants. If this cannot be guaranteed,
the people of Nyeri will consider other options.”
Even
though President Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto have
repeated that there are no favourites, endorsements by some influential
individuals have also intensified speculation of possible interference.
In Nyeri, for example, the family of the late Governor Nderitu Gachagua
early this week endorsed election of the National Oil Corporation
chairman Daniel Wamahiu as the senator to replace Mutahi Kagwe who wants
to be governor.
REJECT SITTING MCAs
They also urged residents to vote for Ms Rahab Mukami for the seat of Woman Representative currently held by Priscilla Nyokabi.
Rigathi
Gachagua, who is the family’s spokesman, also asked people to reject
all the sitting MCAs who were sworn enemies of his late brother.
On
Saturday, a Jubilee aspirant in Nyeri, who did not want to be named,
said: “Rigathi maybe a small man in Jubilee but you cannot take his
words lightly given that party nominations have in the past been
manipulated in favour of some candidates even without the knowledge of
its top leadership.”
There are aspirants who have not
officially announced their candidature but have secured tickets from
“friendly” parties and they are closely watching how Jubilee will
conduct its nominations.
It has not been smooth sailing
for Jubilee despite repeated assurances that all was well. Trouble
started soon after the official launch, when a new narrative emerged
that, far from the initial expectation that at least 10 dissolving
parties would constitute the new behemoth, it emerged that the Jubilee
Alliance Party (JAP) was not disbanded. Instead, its registration
details, including party officials, were used for the new party.
The
only other change was the insertion of new office-bearers: The
President (party leader) and the Deputy President (deputy party leader).
Soon
after the launch, a meeting was convened at the Bomas of Kenya in
November to unveil a 63-member county presidential campaign team.
However, this was largely not well received, considering that many of
those named were aspirants and there was suspicion they could influence
the party nominations. The grassroots presidential campaign teams were
later quietly disbanded in January.
“All Jubilee
aspirants are members of the presidential campaign team. We want, as you
seek votes for your seat, that you also ask for the President’s
re-election,” said Mr Ruto.
Another point of tension
was the December elections of interim office-bearers in the counties
that were largely chaotic. Disputes, petitions, parallel teams claiming
legitimacy as branch office-bearers, among others, characterised the
elections.
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