Nipate
Forum => Kenya Discussion => Topic started by: Omollo on January 20, 2015, 02:13:24 PM
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The uppity of the likes of Kithure Kindiki is returning to haunt Jubilee. How on earth do you merge parties without grassroot consent? The officials doing the merging have no popular mandate. The main constituent parties - URP and TNA - are still operating with interim party officials and have yet to conduct elections(even as they criticize ODM for holding its own).
A number of Jubilee coalition parties have disowned the new Jubilee Alliance Party that President Uhuru Kenyatta hopes to use for reelection in 2017.
JAP brings together Uhuru's TNA and Deputy President William Ruto's URP.
The Musalia Mudavadi-led UDF and Gideon Moi-led Kanu yesterday said they will not dissolve their parties to join JAP.
Mudavadi told the Star, "Cooperating with Jubilee does not mean that we are in a coalition".
"UDF has never been in Jubilee, and, as much as I know, and I want to make it crystal clear, we only have three coalitions in the country - Cord, Jubilee and Amani. UDF, the party that I lead, is in the Amani coalition that is so distinct from Jubilee. I believe that should be made very clear," he told the Star on the phone.
Some Jubilee leaders, who include Senate Majority Leader Kithure Kindiki, have urged all parties working under Jubilee to close shop and join the new outfit. Mudavadi has insisted his UDF will not dissolve itself.
Kanu secretary general Nick Salat said the oldest party in the country “is not involved in the new arrangements”.
He said no one has approached them to join JAP, adding the party that ruled Kenya for 39 years will not be dissolved.
“We are not party to the new party. Nothing is on the table for us now, but I want to assure Kanu members that we are not going to dissolve the party. This is the oldest party in the country, which has all the history of this country. We will only re-brand to bring the youth on board,” he said.
Towards the run-up to the 2013 elections, Jubilee was a four-party coalition – The National Alliance, United Republican Party, Charity Ngilu’s National Rainbow Coalition and the Republican Congress, led by Mining Cabinet secretary Najib Balala.
The coalition later on entered into a post-election agreement with a host of other parties, including the Amani coalition, which brought together the Mudavadi-led UDF, Kanu and the New Vision Party led by former Cabinet minister Nicholas Biwott.
Senator Kiraitu Murungi’s Alliance Party of Kenya also entered a post-election agreement with Jubilee.
Lugari MP Ayub Savula of UDF said his party leader Mudavadi should now pull out from the Jubilee coalition as he was not approached on the formation of JAP.
“Mudavadi, today your road is closed by Jubilee deciding to collapse into a party without consulting you. There is no need to remain there and watch as they organise themselves for 2017. Get out,” said Savula.
Meanwhile, a section of Jubilee MPs has criticised their colleagues who are unhappy with the TNA-URP merger into JAP.
Bomet Governor Isaac Rutto and Wajir Senator Billow Kerrow have come out opposing JAP, saying they were not consulted.
The two were elected on a URP ticket, with Rutto being the figurehead of a rebellion against his party boss, Ruto.
Rutto called on Kenyatta and Ruto to resign honourably as leaders of the ruling coalition and let the political parties be run by others “because their action is wanting”.
But Kericho Senator Charles Keter dismissed Rutto, asking him to keep off the affairs of the new party. Keter said Rutto has all along said he was not interested in Jubilee, claiming the party was formed without regard to the law.
“Rutto doesn’t know the law and he should read it. His calls on the President and Deputy President to resign are misplaced,” he said.
Majority Leader in the National Assembly Aden Duale said TNA and URP will not be dissolved until 2017, and that the merger is within the law.
“Rutto should not be worried, we are just preparing ourselves for 2017 and if he thinks the road ahead is tough for him, he can quit politics. All the elections ahead of us will be under the banner of JAP,” he said.
Kithure said the move to make one political party is meant to safeguard President Uhuru’s second term chances and Ruto’s prospects to take over in 2022.
- See more at: http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/kanu-udf-disown-uhurus-new-party#sthash.NZAoSYjE.dpuf