Jubilee's plan to reclaim its lost glory, tells rebels their days are numbered

Jeremiah Kioni. [Wilberforce Okwiri, Standard]

Former President Uhuru Kenyatta's Jubilee party is exploring an ambitious plan to strengthen its grassroots support across the country and retrace lost political fortunes.

The Jeremiah Kioni-led faction is hoping to reclaim it's lost glory after several months of internal and external woes threatening its stability.

Although a tough task awaits the party in its ambitious quest, senior party officials believe they are on track to revive the powerful political outfit.

The Sunday Standard has established the party is preparing for an all-out onslaught in its traditional strong-hold support bases that it has lost to UDA. 

The party is also working on a cocktail of political strategies to entrench its grassroots support across the country and challenge some of its dominant competitors that are also keen to eat into its support.

Their plans come at a time when its key rivals including another faction led by former Murang'a Woman Representative Sabina Chege have also stepped up efforts to strengthen the outfit. On the flip side, President William Ruto's UDA party is also making significant in-roads in areas where the Jubilee party enjoyed significant support in the past.

According to Kioni who is the party's Secretary General, Jubilee is working on an initiative to revamp its grassroots support.

The party is planning to embark on massive grassroots mobilisation campaigns that will also encompass the registration of new members.

The campaigns will also include conducting grassroots elections that will be part of the ambition to rid the party of errant members.

“Within Jubilee, there are some people who are exercising their democratic rights by moving to other political parties. They will either have to quit for good or we will force them out of the Party,” Kioni said. 

He claimed they are also targeting to clean their political house and build a team that is loyal to the party.

The party is keen to replicate the trend its other partner in Azimio One Kenya Coalition- ODM has taken to deal with members perceived to be rebels.

“And I can assure you we are focusing on them in the coming days. Political good manners require one to remain loyal to the party he or she is in," said Kioni.

Kioni said the Jubilee Party will remain an affiliate of the Azimio Coalition.

The official who was addressing the party’s followers and MCAs outside the Nyamira County Assembly after swearing in of Mitchel Omwoyo, the Party’s nominee to the House, assured that the political outfit was recovering from the recent attacks from the Kenya Kwanza government meant to kill opposition parties in the country.

The leader said the president’s move was going to work against him.  “Do not rejoice in destabilising other political parties. You will end up with a weaker country if political parties do not function as they should,” Kioni warned.

According to the leader, the party’s top leadership will be moving to counties for the recruitment drive that will start in the month of December.

“Jubilee Party remains the third largest party in the country and the focus is to make it as powerful as it was before,” the official said. 

While the party enjoys little support in Nyanza after most of its former members decamped to UDA, Jubilee is optimistic that it will rejuvenate and spread its wings in the region.

Two MCAs from Nyamira have vowed to make the formation vibrant as well as propel its agenda of promoting social well-being.