7 Reasons why Jubilee Party is as good as ‘dead’
It’s official. Kenya’s ruling party is on its deathbed. For those who still need convincing to accept the fact that the Jubilee Party is as good as dead, here are seven reasons to back this up:
1. Endless squabbles and infighting- Structured political parties have internal mechanisms and structures for solving disputes. This is seemingly not the case in the Jubilee Party. How else would you explain the party’s former vice-chairman David Murathe’s public outbursts towards Deputy President William Ruto? Or when several members of Parliament aligned to Ruto publicly attack party Secretary General Raphael Tuju?
2. The camps – Jubilee Party has two camps. Tanga tanga, whose members are aligned to Ruto, and Kieleweke, whose legion is led by Nominated MP Maina Kamanda and Nyeri Town MP, Ngunjiri Wambugu. Without delving deeper, these two camps seemingly share nothing in common, and can barely stand each other. In addition, please refer to point number 1 above.
3. The Handshake – President Uhuru Kenyatta appears to have no time for his own party since he embraced opposition leader Raila Odinga, who has since enjoyed an elevated status status within the government. On Sunday night, for instance, in far away Cairo, it was ‘Baba’ who addressed Harambee Stars players after that painful loss to Algeria in a 2019 Africa Cup of Nations match. He was flanked by Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed, her PS Kirimi Kaberia and Kenya’s Ambassador to Egypt Joff Otieno, who all clapped at each of his statements. Odinga’s emergence as a high-level state agent cannot be taken lightly considering his political history. As it stands, he is best placed to benefit from the Jubilee fallout.
4. Presidential rant – President Uhuru Kenyatta recently addressed the nation on national TV in a language only spoken by one of the 43 tribes of Kenya. In his speech, he tore into Members of Parliament from his Jubilee Party, who, he said, are undermining him and discussing politics instead of talking development. Not done, he vowed to go after the ‘thugs’ disobeying him and teach them a lesson or two. We will inform you how this one pans out.
5. History – Aside from Kanu, history shows us the shelf-life of any ruling party in Kenya is five years. In 2002 it was NARC, come 2007 and PNU took over, paving way to the TNA-URP marriage in 2013 before Jubilee assumed the mantle in 2017. If all parameters remain constant, then Jubilee only has exactly two and a half years before ‘folding up’.
6. Party membership – Tanga Tanga members are now threatening to stop paying party subscriptions. In simple English, they are saying they will disassociate themselves from Jubilee.
7. Assassination claims – This could be the last straw. That Deputy President William Ruto – as per media reports – strongly believes someone within the government wants him dead shows just how ugly things have gotten within the ruling party. Mark you, those reportedly involved are high ranking government officials!