I'm not a Jubilee project for 2022 elections, says Peter Kenneth

Former presidential candidate Peter Kenneth has dismissed claims that he is being groomed to succeed President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Mr Kenneth, who has announced he will not contest the presidency next year and will instead back Uhuru’s re-election bid, yesterday said he does not feature in Jubilee Party’s post-2017 election plan.

“Whatever succession agenda JP (Jubilee Party) has I am not part of it,” said Kenneth, who ran on a Kenya National Congress ticket in the 2013 polls but intends to contest for governorship next year.

Insisting that his relationship with Deputy President William Ruto is not sour as it is perceived, Kenneth said he would soon be joining the JP bandwagon after his resignation from Kenya National Congress is accepted.

presidential vote

“There are some people raising issues that DP Ruto and I are not in good terms over the 2022 presidential bid but I want to state that we are friends,” Kenneth said.

Jubilee has endorsed Ruto to succeed Uhuru in 2022 should Jubilee win next year’s presidential vote. Kenneth further told off Dagoretti MP Dennis Waweru over his insistence that Kenya National Congress party fold, saying he does not own any party.

“I have no party to fold, I do not own any party. I am just a member (of Kenya National Congress) and I have already submitted my resignation to the Registrar of Political Parties after which I will be joining JP as a member,” said Kenneth.

OPPORTUNISTIC MOVE

Mr Waweru had criticised Kenneth and Narc Kenya leader Martha Karua over their decision to support President Kenyatta in his re-election bid come 2017, arguing that it was an opportunistic move, as “they bring no political value to JP” and were yet to fold their respective political parties.

But speaking yesterday at a church service in Zimmerman, Nairobi where he was accompanied by MPs Waihenya Ndirangu (Roysambu) and John Njoroge (Kasarani), Kenneth vehemently defended his decision to join JP.

“My decision to support JP should not raise any issues because it has no conditions. Those spreading propaganda are just panicking for no reasons,” he said.