The ruling Jubilee Party plans to change its branding to mark severance of ties with Deputy President William Ruto’s wing and set the stage for coalition negotiations with the opposition ODM.
The rebrand plan, as well as terms of unity talks with the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), will feature in a meeting of the party’s top governing organ beginning today (Monday).
Jubilee Secretary-General Raphael Tuju, in an interview, told the Nation that the party’s National Management Committee (NMC) will meet Monday and Tuesday to deliberate on its technical team’s report on the planned political alliance.
The meeting, Mr Tuju said, follows another one on Friday in which NMC members and the party’s parliamentary leadership met the technical team to discuss details of the planned union with ODM.
Jubilee Deputy Secretary-General Joshua Kuttuny said that the party will also deliberate on a new look that will involve tweaking of colours, symbol and logo.
He said the ruling party’s current colours were derived from The National Alliance (TNA) of President Uhuru Kenyatta and the United Republic Party (URP) of DP Ruto, who have since broken ranks politically.
The deputy president has been actively promoting the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), which makes it necessary for Jubilee to rebrand ahead of a coalition agreement with ODM.
Jubilee Party colours are red, yellow, black and white.
Red was the conspicuous colour on TNA logo before the merger with URP, whose dominant colours were yellow and black.
Capture present realities
Mr Kutuny, a former political adviser of the President, said the new logo and colours will capture present realities.
The technical team working on specifics of the coalition agreement, and who met the NMC and House leadership on Friday, included party lawyers and three directors, Mr Tuju said.
“On any of the coalition issues, I can only talk after NMC has authorised me and so any statement I make can only come from either NMC or from the party leader since I don't express my opinions,” Mr Tuju told the Nation , indicating the discussions were sanctioned by the top party leadership.
“I have received a draft of the official statement and I’m waiting to get the approval of NMC before I issue it,” he said about the Friday discussions.
Jubilee Vice Chairman David Murathe, in a separate interview, said the matters of a coalition were being discussed at a “very high level with a view to having a formidable machine for 2022”.
“Now that we have gotten rid of UDA, our next phase is to strengthen the party and its structures, offices and hold elections all the way culminating into an NDC that will make a decision on whether we are having a candidate as a party or producing a coalition candidate,” Mr Murathe told the Nation Sunday.
“We need space to be in a position to revamp our party and structures and strengthen ourselves to form a formidable machine for the next election,” he said.
He pointed out that after kicking out the Ruto-linked UDA sympathisers from Jubilee, the next phase is to “chase them out of Mt Kenya and introduce our new partners”.
“Mt Kenya is one of our strongholds and we are now getting to a point of introduction of our partners there,” the vocal Jubilee vice chairman said.
"We agreed that as we chart the path to 2022, we uphold Uhuru’s vision to try and bring all the leadership supportive of the Handshake into one.
“We are reaching out to One Kenya Alliance and ODM and other like-minded parties and hope to have two major formations – one led by the so-called Hustler movement and the other one for peace, stability and a unified country.”
Mr Murathe noted that they are concerned by their partners belonging in other coalitions, which he noted will have to be dissolved before one “formidable 2022 machine is actualised”.
“We are not forming a coalition government but looking at a futuristic arrangement cognisant of the fact that you cannot be in a coalition now with partners who are already in other coalitions.
“It must also be clear that the arrangement we are working on does not push for the dissolution of any party but one where each party retains its identity but under the umbrella of the coalition,” said Mr Murathe.
ODM is said to be upbeat about the coalition with Jubilee, but is keen to have the plan actualised next year so as not to find itself in a legal quagmire.
Being a member of the Nasa coalition, ODM cannot enter into another coalition deal before withdrawing from Nasa.
Its withdrawal at the moment to enter into a new deal with Jubilee would mean the party crossing to the majority side, with the consequences of losing its minority Senate and National Assembly positions.
The formal coalition agreement is, therefore, likely to be delayed until it is legally safe to put pen to paper as per the election laws.
