Uhuru Kenyatta, William Ruto dump JAP as vehicle for 2017 polls

Meru Senator Kiraitu Murungi (right) and former Cabinet Minister Noah Wekesa address the Press on the Jubilee alliance merger at the party headquarters. [Photo: David Gichuru/Standard]

President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto will not seek re-election on the Jubilee Alliance Party (JAP), less than a year after the party was formed.

The two and a host of their allies had made it clear that JAP was their party of choice for the 2017 General Election while calling for dissolution of Jubilee affiliate parties. But a series of mistrust, suspicions and wrangling among members of the governing coalition has led to the proposal for a new outfit, Jubilee Party of Kenya (JPK), by December.

JAP has faced a lot of resistance, especially from a section of Ruto's United Republican Party (URP) and lately Alliance Party of Kenya (APK) members who say there were no consultations about its formation. Monday, a team co-chaired by Meru Senator Kiraitu Murungi and former Cabinet Minister Noah Wekesa, that is tasked with working out the merger of Jubilee affiliate parties, abandoned the initial plan to collapse them into JAP.

"By December 19, we shall have collapsed all the parties including JAP to join JPK," Kiraitu said. When asked whether they were changing the earlier position that the parties will merge into JAP, he responded: "All parties will join Jubilee but the consultations are still ongoing."

But tellingly, Kericho Senator Charles Keter, who is a proponent of JAP but did not attend Monday's meeting, downplayed the push for the new outfit. "We are not unveiling a new political party but just changing the name, re-engineering and we shall retain the structures. It's not a conclusive process. JAP is a registered political party. We are not going to register another party as JPK," said Keter, who is also a member of the team overseeing the planned merger.

Reduce rebellion

But even the new outfit is not welcome to Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto who has vowed URP will not fold up. Monday, Ruto told The Standard that he has nothing to do with JAP or JPK.

"Uhuruto should have noticed by now that the only way is to rediscover leadership and respect for institutions, respect for the rule of law and the need to learn to respect the new constitutional order," said Governor Ruto. "They should focus on the country's recovery."

Meru Governor Peter Munya has also resisted attempts to wind up of APK, setting him up for a clash with its leader Kiraitu.

"Governors Ruto and Munya have always rebelled against anything good Jubilee is doing. Let them join other outfits and we will meet at the ballot," said URP Secretary General Fred Muteti.

A source suggested that Kiraitu, however, is quietly lobbying to have the registration certificate of APK amended by replacing 'Alliance' with Jubilee so that APK becomes JPK.

"Senator just wants APK to shed off the letter 'A' and take on 'J' so that it becomes JPK and continues being the 'Mbus' driver," claimed a source privy to the meetings insights.

National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale (Garissa Town) of URP said JAP has not been disbanded and reaffirmed that the Jubilee alliance will be on the ballot. "We have not concluded this matter. It is still subject to further consultations," he said.

"We were testing waters with the formation of JAP. We have realised we will have problems if we went ahead forcing JAP on people. It was not a good slogan for us," said a source who spoke to The Standard in confidence.

The source further revealed that in the new party structure the positions will be shared on the strength of the number of elected members in Senate and national and county assemblies.

Monday, the National Steering Committee (NSC) had met for four hours to form more special committees to build consensus before the final merger scheduled for December 19 at Kasarani Stadium. In the Terms of Reference (TOR) set out by the President to the 30 member NSC it was to ensure all affiliate parties join JAP by December failure to which he will explore other options for a party in 2017.

Of concern to NSC is to sell the idea of forming JPK to senators, governors, members of the National Assembly and members of the county assembly.

And in order to reduce rebellion which charactersed the push for JAP, NSC has formed special committees each with two co-chairs to draw up the merger and Jubilee party's structure.

The co-chairs have been chosen with consideration of party affiliation, gender, ethnic balance and regional representation. The committees' mandate is to ensure that merger aspects are fully negotiated and harmony prevails.

However, the proposals and resolutions of the committees will be subjected to the elected members next month before taking the same to grassroot levels.

Leadership positions will be a blend of the old and the young and those touted to be the face of the party include Muteti and his TNA counterpart Onyango Oloo, Kiraitu, Duale and Nyeri Governor Nderitu Gachagua among others.