Allies of President Uhuru Kenyatta want him to decide the fate of Deputy President William Ruto and his allies in Jubilee during the upcoming National Delegates Conference.
The meeting will be the culmination of the ruling party’s drive to reinvigorate itself after being humiliated by the Dr Ruto-linked United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party in recent by-elections.
Yesterday, Jubilee lawmakers said that although they will expunge the names of those who helped create the rival UDA, they have moved on and will not push for Tangatanga lawmakers to lose their seats.
Jubilee’s focus now is on how it will be part of the next administration, Kieni MP Kanini Kega, a staunch supporter of President Kenyatta, told the Nation.
“The law will take its course. For us, we have no business following whether a person loses a seat or not, we will just do what is needful for us as a party. We do not have the energy to (kick people out of the party). We do not want to focus on things that do not add value to us,” Mr Kega said.
The delegates meeting on November 30, he said, will be an opportunity to clear the party register and bring on board other individuals, adding that those who violated the party’s constitution will face the consequences.
“If you have been found to have contravened our constitution, then the consequences will follow. For those who have participated in other political parties, the law is very clear and it is not about us but we are actually applying the law, which is very clear,” he said.
He said that if Jubilee politicians participated in creating another party or are associating with a party not affiliated with the one that sponsored them to Parliament, they “will be deemed to have resigned from the party”.
Article 103 of the Constitution says that an MP will lose their seat if they resign or are deemed to have resigned from the party that sponsored them to Parliament.
The DP’s camp is banking on their expulsion from the party and even losing their seats to seek sympathy from voters, said Ndaragwa MP Jeremiah Kioni, another ally of Mr Kenyatta.
“How do you expel people who left a long time ago, people without a conscience? Ruto is the prince of impunity in this country and I have known him for that during my political career,” he said.
“It's for that reason that I refused to back his ticket during the 2013 elections. I feared his dishonesty and his ability to sugar-coat it.”
After Jubilee removes the names of DP Ruto and his lieutenants, he said, it would be upon Kenyans to decide if they want to move to court to compel Tangatanga MPs to lose their seats.
“On losing their seats, it is a matter we will leave to the courts. For us, they have already lost their positions in the party and when they cease being party members, the law is very clear,” Mr Kioni said.
For Limuru MP Mwathi Mungai, another ally of the President, all members who are expelled from the party should be dealt with harshly until they lose their seats.
“Due process must be followed to a logical conclusion and this means that they are likely to lose their seats,” he said.
Because President Kenyatta will remain Jubilee’s leader beyond the 2022 elections, said Murang’a Woman Representative Sabina Chege, he will have the final say on the rebellious group that she accuses of rocking the party.
“We are going to stick to the agenda which is in the NDC notice. However, on the matter of removing party rebels, we shall leave it to the party leader to decide,” Ms Chege told the Nation yesterday.
DP Ruto recently dared Jubilee to remove him from the party, which he described as a “dying” outfit. He said his decision to move to UDA was prompted by divisions that rocked Jubilee.
“(Our competitors want) to divide Kenya along tribal lines and we are telling them that the way they broke up Jubilee, we are not threatened since we are already organised under UDA,” he said.
Constitutional lawyer Bobby Mkangi argues that what is happening in Jubilee reflects how other political parties have dealt with rebels.
“What is going on in the Jubilee Party is a replica of what happened in ODM and Wiper prior to the 2017 General Election, where disciplinary organs recommended the expulsion of disloyal members but they filed cases that have dragged on to date,” he said.
In December 2016, the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal temporarily stopped the expulsion of 10 ODM rebel legislators over alleged party disloyalty.
The decision came after the lawyer representing nine of the rebels, Kioko Kilikumi, appealed against the party’s National Governing Council (NGC) move to reject their appeal against expulsion.
Mr Kilikumi argued that the ODM disciplinary committee failed to give the embattled members a fair hearing, and that the NGC, which also ratified their expulsion, was not legally constituted.
The 10 who were expelled by ODM were Kwale Governor Salim Mvurya, Kisii Deputy Governor Joash Maangi, MPs Ababu Namwamba, Zainabu Chidzuga, Isaac Mwaura, Samuel Arama, Steven Kariuki, John Waluke and Masoud Mwahima, and Nairobi MCA Samuel Nyangwara.
Jubilee is likely to amend, review and ratify its constitution to ensure compliance with the Kenyan Constitution, the Political Parties Act and Elections Act, among other laws.
Apart from dealing with the DP and his allies, who have switched allegiance to UDA, the convention is also expected to ratify a coalition deal with ODM.
