Uhuru blames turnout for shambolic Jubilee primaries

President Uhuru Kenyatta addresses the media at State House, Nairobi on April 22, 2017. PHOTO | WILLIAM OERI | NATION MEDIA GROUP 

By NATION REPORTER
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President Uhuru Kenyatta on Saturday said under-preparedness caused the chaos and confusion in Friday's Jubilee primaries.

During a press briefing at State House in Nairobi the President said shortage of voting materials was due to a huge voter turnout.

He said the party cancelled the entire nominations exercise, "because doing anything to the contrary may have resulted in a subversion of the democratic will of the people".

Here is his full statement:

Yesterday was unprecedented for the Jubilee Party. While the party was prepared for a normal Party Primary, we were confronted by a full scale general election in terms of the sheer massive turnout we all witnessed.

To the millions of party faithful who turned out to vote, and to the thousands of party aspirants who turned out to compete for party tickets, we unreservedly apologise for the under-preparedness for the magnitude and scale of the nominations exercise.

The Jubilee Party is committed to free, fair, transparent and credible nominations, which, as we have repeatedly stated, must reflect the will of the people.

Because of this commitment, we also took another unprecedented and difficult decision to cancel the entire nominations exercise, because doing anything to the contrary may have resulted in a subversion of the democratic will of the people.

Even in places like Laikipia, West Pokot, Tharaka Nithi, Nyandarua and Taita Taveta, where voting had largely been completed with the support and cooperation of aspirants, we also took the decision to cancel the nominations.

The Party leadership and the National Elections Board are now remapping the entire process taking into account the massive turnout we experienced yesterday. A detailed and revised primaries timetable will be issued by the party headquarters today, in accordance with the IEBC timelines.

I urge all party members to keep the faith. We assure you that the Jubilee Party will deliver on its promise for a transparent, fair, and credible Primary.