Uhuru party faces deep crisis as officials fight ahead of poll

Nairobi. Cracks have emerged in the Jubilee Party after county officials from 10 Mount Kenya counties accused its secretariat of mismanagement and undermining their leadership.

The over 190 officials have expressed their dissatisfaction with the party’s operations and demanded to meet its leader, President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Micromanagement

The agitated officials are bitter with Raphael Tuju, accusing him of micromanaging the party and disregarding the county teams.

Their chairman, Alhaji Mwendia, accused the secretariat of keeping them in the dark about matters related to the party.

“The secretariat has been very economical on the flow of information,” Mr Mwendia said. “The secretariat is not the party but employees of the party and must respect us.”

The leaders demanded to be involved in the drawing of the party’s nomination lists.

“Nomination lists will be drawn by the branches. There are rumours circulating that officers in the Jubilee secretariat are soliciting money from unsuspecting people promising them nominations,” Mr Mwendia said.

Campaigns

The official also issued a stern warning to the party’s national officials against organising presidential campaigns in the counties.

“All efforts to coordinate the presidential campaign must be done by the executives without any external interference,” he said. They gave the party a seven-day ultimatum to address their grievances.

Regarding delays in paying polling officers and clerks, the official said it was a plot to rob the contracted officials of their money.

“They should be paid before Tuesday and this is a demand. We think this is being done deliberately for some people to benefit from what they did not work for,” he said.

The ongoing protests in the country, he said Wednesday, were tarnishing the party’s name.

Other elections

“These are the legit party officials and not volunteers. The secretariat can forget any other elections of officials in the near future,” he said.

The officials described as “unfair” the party’s decision to control all the money raised from aspirants before nominations. (NMG)

“The party raised a lot of money from aspirants. They should have kept 50 per cent and released the rest to promote their branch offices,” said Mureithi Kang’ara.

The officials also took issue with party coordinators and demanded that they be sacked immediately.

“We are sure that other deals were at play when they were picked, because none of those names submitted were chosen,” Mr Mwendia.

The officials have threatened to march to the party headquarters if their complaints are not addressed.(NMG)