Jubilee Party Vice Chairman David Murathe on Thursday, May 11 declared that the special National Delegates Conference (NDC) that was called by former President Uhuru Kenyatta will go on as earlier planned.
A notice by the party dated Friday, April 28 revealed that the meeting would take place at Bomas of Kenya in Nairobi on Monday, May 22, 2023.
Speaking during a press conference held at the Jubilee headquarters in Nairobi, shortly after meeting with party branches across the country, Murathe disclosed that the party is proceeding with preparations for the NDC.
“The current status is that we are going full steam ahead in preparation for the NDC called by the party leader on May 22 at the Bomas of Kenya. The people you see here are Chairs of all party branches countywide, which serve as an organ for the national governing council,” Murathe said.
The announcement was in defiance of East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) MP Kanini Kega’s move to suspend the NDC on Wednesday, May 10.
At the same time, Murathe urged the Kega faction to attend the NDC so that they can ask for votes from delegates, further compelling them to stop staging conferences on the roadside to impose their authority.
“The delegates are final, they will decide. If you want a position in the party ask the delegates to vote for you.
“You (Kanini faction) cannot impose yourself by holding conferences in the streets,” Murathe added.
Jeremiah Kioni, the party secretary-general who is embroiled in a tussle over the position with Kega, told the Jubilee members to ignore the cancellation reports, further noting that the party belongs to the people, hence the NDC will go on regardless of a suit aiming to stop it.
“I will be chairing the meeting and he (Uhuru) will only be coming to endorse what we have agreed on.
“This is not a matter of Uhuru Kenyatta, it is the members and that is why we are saying let us fight for it,” he decried.
He also expressed his amazement at the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP) for entertaining the drama whereby those acting as party leaders were ‘noise makers’ and had no power to decide for the party, adding that they were not even gazetted.
In a notice on May 10, Kega, who claimed to act as the secretary general, noted that his decision was affirmed by the Jubilee Party’s National Executive Committee (NEC).
“Take notice that the Jubilee Party National Executive Committee (NEC) has suspended the notice for a Special National Delegates Conference published in the print media on April 29,” read the notice in part.
Kega further noted that the former ruling party’s NEC would convene a special meeting for all the party delegates in the coming days, after which he signed the notice off as the secretary-general.
