Jubilee coalition calls off nominations

The Jubilee coalition on Monday postponed its conference to nominate a presidential candidate, amid differences that threatened to kill the union of three parties.

Coalition leaders Uhuru Kenyatta (The National Alliance), Musalia Mudavadi (United Democratic Forum) and William Ruto (United Republican Party) met for more than 12 hours — nine hours on Sunday night and three hours on Monday morning — trying to find common ground on the presidential nominations.

But the three were not helped by TNA and UDF hardliners, with the former pushing for a delegates conference and the latter insisting on consensus.

The extent of the confusion was underlined by the presence of TNA delegates in Nairobi and preparations for the convention at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, for the coalition’s big day.

In addition to the dispute over whether to do a boardroom deal or go to the ballot, there appeared to be differences on precisely how the delegates conference was to be constituted.

One proposal was that delegates be allocated to the three parties on a pro-rata basis depending on “party strength”. But judging party strength is a tricky issue given that all three parties are new and are going into their first General Election.

Mutual agreement

The chairmen of the three parties, Mr Francis ole Kaparo (URP), Johnson Sakaja (TNA) and Osman Hassan (UDF) announced the postponement of the conference, saying: “The Jubilee coalition has by mutual agreement decided to postpone the delegates conference earlier slated for Tuesday so as to allow for more time for the parties to agree on a method of pick the presidential flag bearer.”

Earlier, URP spokesman Aden Duale said: “We have postponed the delegates conference to December 24 to give room to our party leaders to talk and consult their members over the decisions that were reached. By Friday, we should have complete lists of delegates to participate in the conference.”

The Dujis MP denied reports that Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto had fallen out with Mr Mudavadi and that the two were going back to their original agreement. He also clarified that the conference had been postponed, not cancelled.

“It is still on. Between today and then, the three leaders will go back to their parties to explain to them the decisions that have been reached,” he said without elaborating.

One of the decisions, it was understood, was to drop the consensus system and nominate the coalition’s presidential candidate at the national delegates conference (NDC).

The coalition sent lawyers to the Registrar of Political Parties to extend the period of nominating the presidential candidate by seven days from Tuesday. “We have sent our lawyers to the registrar to extend the period by seven days as required in law,” he said.

Signs that all was not well were clear when Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto arrived at Wilson Airport without Mr Mudavadi on their way to Kitui.

The three had indicated that they will attend the Kitui rally and sign a cooperation agreement with Water Minister Charity Ngilu of Narc.

“He (Mr Mudavadi) wanted to brief his inner circle first. And you know Charity was more of our (TNA/URP) previous deal,” Mr Duale said.

Mr Mudavadi was locked in a meeting with MPs allied to his party and officials in the afternoon, attempting to explain the decisions that were reached during the meetings. There were suggestions that the three leaders call a meeting of MPs from their parties to help reach a solution.

TNA MPs met on Monday night at the Panafric Hotel, with Mr Kenyatta in attendance, and grappled with the fate of their presidential aspirant. Sources said they were deeply divided over the possibility of Mr Kenyatta opting out of the State House race.

Central Kenya Parliamentary Group chairman Ephraim Maina said: “I appeal to all people in the alliance to strive to stay together for the sake of unity of this country. This is a critical moment for the country and all leaders should stay united.”

An SMS sent to the TNA lawmakers by Nominated MP Amina Abdalla said: “Mheshimiwa, kindly avail yourself for an urgent TNA parliamentary Group meeting at the Panafric Hotel, Mezzanine 1-Baraza room today (Monday), for a briefing on tomorrow’s (Tuesday’s) presidential nomination process. Hon Uhuru Kenyatta will be in attendance.”

On Monday, MPs allied to Mr Kenyatta and Mr Mudavadi held a series of meetings at Jacaranda Hotel in a bid to save the coalition although little progress appears to have been made.

“Yes, we have met our colleagues from UDF, but we believe in a credible process. We will not be blackmailed into accepting something that our supporters are already suspicious of,” said Nithi MP Kareke Mbiuki.

Assistant Minister Kazungu Kambi of URP insisted that nothing other than a credible nomination will be tolerated.

“We have told Mr Mudavadi that it is either a proper nomination decided by the people or nothing,” he said.

Mr Ruto, who spoke to journalists at the URP headquarters on Ngong Road, said he will be in Isiolo on Tuesday for a rally at Livestock Minister Mohammed Kuti’s constituency.

Reported by Bernard Namunane, Isaac Ongiri and John Njagi