Jubilee officials hold secret talks on disbanding political parties ahead of JAP merger

Senator Kiraitu Murungi [PHOTO/EVANS HABILSTANDARD]

The merger of all Jubilee Alliance affiliate parties gained momentum yesterday with officials of the political outfits meeting to discuss the framework that will guide them into joining the Jubilee Alliance Party (JAP).

With President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto having declared that they will be seeking re-election in 2017 through JAP, affiliate parties in the ruling coalition have now moved towards disbanding their political parties.

Sources told The Standard on Saturday that Uhuru and Ruto had given officials of smaller political parties a December 2016 deadline to ensure they have all disbanded their outfits and joined JAP in readiness for the 2017 polls.

The source revealed that the President had directed Meru Senator Kiraitu Murungi, who has already declared that he will disband his Alliance Party of Kenya (APK), and former Minister Noah Wekesa of New Ford Kenya to lead the merger process as co-chairs.

Notably, the two leaders chaired yesterday’s closed-door meeting at the JAP headquarters that brought together officials of the affiliate parties.

And although those in attendance declined to publicly reveal the meeting’s main agenda, insisting that they were discussing issues facing the country such as the teachers strike and the prayer rallies for Ruto’s ICC case, our source revealed that the meeting discussed the  merger framework.

“We discussed the framework since Section 11 of the Political Parties Act says that a party can only merge with another in accordance with its own constitution and rules. The talks chaired by the bus driver (Kiraitu) were aimed at looking at how different parties can comply with all legal requirements regarding the merger,” he disclosed.

The source disclosed that already, Uhuru’s TNA, Ruto’s URP, APK, Grand National Unity (GNU), New Ford Kenya, Ford People and United Democratic Forum (UDF), formerly associated with former Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi, had agreed on disbanding to join JAP.

“There are close to 10 other parties that we are still in discussion with. It is a decision that has to be ratified by the relevant party organs, some of them have to hold a National Delegates Conference or hold meetings involving their highest decision-making party organs and that is why some are still discussing the matter,” disclosed the source.

Two Governors — Nyeri’s Nderitu Gachagua and his Bungoma counterpart Kenneth Lusaka — were among those who attended the meeting that had been titled “strictly confidential” in its invitation message. The two attended in their capacity as GNU and New Ford Kenya officials, respectively.

Others in attendance were Senate Majority Leader Kithure Kindiki, his Deputy in the House Charles Keter, Embu Senator Lenny Kivuti, Majority Chief Whip Beatrice Elachi (APK Secretary General) and Nominated MP Johnson Sakaja (TNA chairman).

Briefing the media after the meeting, Kiraitu appeared reluctant to discuss the merger, only saying that outfits were engaging in “informal consultations” towards the process.

“For us in the Bus (APK), we agreed that once we get a good parking for the bus and a good bedroom, then we will be okay with the merger. We have seen that there is a good parking yard at the JAP headquarters and a good shade,” said the Meru Senator.