President Uhuru Kenyatta said in January he still has time “to roar like a lion”.
But for how much longer?
Though he has said he “wouldn’t mind” becoming Prime Minister, if the post is approved in the BBI referendum, that’s not certain.
What is, however, emerging is that President Kenyatta’s retirement from active politics could usher the ruling Jubilee Party to it’s deathbed.
Uhuru, who is serving his second and last constitutional term, is expected to exit the political stage after next year’s General Election.
Without a political commander and with Jubilee giving indications it will not field a presidential candidate, experts warn the party’s chances of survival beyond next year are minimal. Parties are closely associated with personalities
However, allies of President Kenyatta, who is also the party leader, have insisted instead that once the Building Bridges Initiative process is over, the party will embark on a revamping mission.
Political experts have warned that selfish interests and lack of leadership are ruining the once-vibrant and coveted Jubilee Party ahead of 2022.
Deputy President William Ruto, who is also the deputy party leader, is on record saying the outfit is on a roller coaster to self-destruction after Uhuru allies subjected members to the chopping board instead of ironing out problems.
They have also humiliated and edged him out of the party he helped form.
The party has not called meetings for members to vent their issues but instead, the National Management Committee, the top organ comprised mainly of Uhuru men, has been wielding the sword left right on allies of the DP.
The Uhuru camp has declared Ruto and his troops personae non grata at the Jubilee headquarters along Thika Road.
Image: FILE
Political analyst Isaac Wabuge said the party was not founded on a strong and long-term ideology, unlike CCM of Tanzania and or ANC of South Africa.
Speaking to the Star, Wabuge said political parties in Kenya are driven by figureheads and without one in Jubilee, it will lose steam and could be a shell in the next election.
“From what has happened in the Jubilee Party and the succession politics playing out, I can say it was a house of cards. There is a likelihood of this party being extinct by next year,” he said.
Wabuge said even if it was to survive the turmoil, it will not attract aspirants as it did in the 2017 election.
“If Jubilee is to remain alive, it will not have the impact it had in the last election. This is a party that had aspirants even in Nasa strongholds and it managed to get positions in the counties no one thought it would,” he said.
Wabuge added, “Now there is a new party— a sister of Jubilee which is associated with Deputy President William Ruto and which is currently doing massive recruitment across the country and more so in zones where Jubilee enjoyed support.
“This would dethrone the ruling party.”
The party was founded by Uhuru and Ruto in 2016 after amalgamating 12 political parties.
In September 2016, Uhuru and Ruto led their supporters in launching the Jubilee Party, an outfit billed to be the next ‘party of Africa’.
However, soon after the election and the handshake, the party has been rocked by acrimonious infighting, earning the once-vibrant outfit the label of Tower of Babel— a tower that was presumptuously intended to reach from earth to heaven but could not.
The party rode into power after winning seats in county assemblies, governorships and parliamentary positions.
Now, however, the Senate and the National Assembly is split into two factions — Tangatanga allied to the DP and Kieleweke leaning towards the President.
The party was to conduct the crucial grassroots election two years ago at the expiry of the term of interim officials expired but with the spread of coronavirus, no announcement on when elections could be conducted.
The polls are all important because they are part of a democratic process through which parties recruit new members, raid opponents’ turfs and strengthen grassroots support.
Internal polls also gauge the parties’ individual strengths to project any formidable performance in upcoming presidential contests because by such processes candidates for elective seats are picked.
Grassroots leaders are the bedrock of presidential nominations as they make up the crucial party decision-making organs, including the National Delegates Convention, which elects the presidential candidate.
Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro said because of selfish political interests, the party was subjected to self-destruction mode.
Nyoro, an ally of the Deputy President, said several party members no longer wish to be associated with the party since it has not only destroyed the economy but also frustrated the leaders who founded and build it.
“It is unfortunate that some people sacrificed our party because of selfish interests. Part of it was to stop Ruto from succeeding the President. The design was to divide the supporters of Uhuru and Ruto but that has not worked,” he told the Star.
He said Jubilee “no longer resonates” well with the members and they are counting the days to the end of the regime.
“We have a new home that is ready and big enough to accommodate all Kenyans. Jubilee smells bad now. It has destroyed the economy of our people and no supporter of the President wants to hear anything about it,” he said.
Jubilee deputy secretary general Joshua Kutuny, however, said the outfit is alive and strong, dismissing critics.
The Cherengany MP, who recently replaced Ruto ally Caleb Kositany in the position, said the party has a grand plan that will be unveiled soon after the anticipated BBI referendum.
“We already have a technical team working on a roadmap on how to revamp the party into a serious movement. We have also been engaging our party members who may have felt discouraged along the way and they are trooping back in numbers,” he told the Star.
Kutuny said the Ruto camp has been the cause of infighting and confusion in the party and with their switching to UDA, Jubilee now has an opportunity to put its house in order.
“We are on course now. Tangatanga have been the loudest noisemakers in the party. We have successfully weeded out the bad elements who have been distracting the President from his development agenda,” he said
Kutuny said they are in the process of shopping for the right presidential candidate they will back in August 2022,
Naivasha MP Jayne Kihara said Jubilee became a victim of bad politics that forced it to deviate from it’s original agenda.
“Jubilee had a clear plan and agenda for this country but it was hijacked by both internal and external forces that has crippled the party. It is sad the President allowed it to happen,” she said. BY THE STAR