President Uhuru Kenyatta signs bill paving way for Jubilee merger

The Political Parties (Amendment) Act, which paves the way for the Jubilee merger, has been signed into law.

President Uhuru Kenyatta assented to the new law yesterday as 14 MPs welcomed his decision. The MPs said the Act would give party members a chance to vie under one big party.

The Act provides a road map for merger of political parties. The MPs were speaking in Eastleigh, where they accompanied Deputy President William Ruto to open a Huduma Centre and lay a foundation stone for a Technical Training Institute.

Addressing the gathering, Mr Ruto said the Act gives Jubilee affiliate parties an opportunity to unite and form one indivisible party that they will use in the 2017 General Election.

"In 2013, we vied on different political parties that formed the Jubilee Alliance but next year we will unite all these parties under one Jubilee Party so that we can bring all Kenyans together," he said.

"With the signing of the Political Parties Bill into an Act we shall within the next one or two months unite all Jubilee affiliate parties," he added.

Ruto urged Kenyans to maintain peace, adding that violence and demonstrations had no place in the country's development matrix. He said the Government was ready for talks with the Opposition to resolve the Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission (IEBC) impasse.

Ruto asked the Opposition to hurry up and present the names of those to represent CORD in the parliamentary select committee that will decide the fate of IEBC commissioners. Ruto said the Government would simplify the issuance of identity cards, adding that the present system that demanded applicants to produce their parents IDs was cumbersome.

He expressed concern that 300,000 IDs were lying uncollected in Government offices. "We are doing a pilot project so that once we complete digitisation of the issuance of IDs so that it will take a few days for the document to be ready," the DP said.

MPs who welcomed the news were Yusuf Hassan (Kamukunji), Rachel Shebesh (Nairobi), Dennis Waweru (Dagorreti) and Maina Kamanda (Starehe).

Others are Mary Wambui (Othaya), Ali Farah (Mandera East), Stephen Kariuki (Mathare), Benson Mutura (Makadara), Waithaka Waihenya (Roysambu) Kabando wa Kabando (Mukurwe-ini), Mohammed Shidiye (Lagdera) and Sonia Birdi (nominated).