Kajiado Jubilee aspirants protest over party primaries
Kajiado North MP aspirant Sankok Teeka.
Storm is brewing in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee party after aspirants in Kajiado opposed consensus as the party’s preferred method for picking candidates for the August 9, 2022 General Election.
The politicians led by Kajiado North MP hopeful Sankok Teeka opposed the method even as party Secretary-General Jeremiah Kioni gave assurances on Thursday that the nomination process will be free and fair.
But Mr Sankok warned that the Jubilee party risked losing seats in the county if unpopular aspirants were handpicked by some party officials at the expense of the most popular ones.
Consensus
"We have the best interest of the party. We advise the party to hold nominations to get the strongest candidates to face our rivals," Mr Sankok said.
Mr Ambrose Kago, another MP aspirant said they had heard of plans to pick party candidates through consensus and vowed to resist it.
“Wananchi should be allowed to elect those they want to represent them. That is how democracy works,” said Mr Kago.
Although he said that the area aspirants are yet to be notified of the nomination dates, the party has scheduled to undertake its primaries within eight days- from April 14- 22, 2022.
They accused Jubilee deputy party leader Peter Mositet, the former Kajiado senator, of interfering with the nomination process.
The former senator has been accused of fronting Mr Parsimei Gitau for the Kajiado North parliamentary seat currently held by Mr Joseph Manje who has chosen not to defend his seat.
Mr Gitau, a close relative of Mr Mositet, has been the Municipality manager in Kajiado Governor Joseph Ole Lenku’s administration.
Independent candidate
Ahead of the 2017 General Election, Mr Gitau lost to Mr Manje in the Jubilee nomination before opting to run as an independent candidate. He finished second with over 25,000 votes.
Mr Mositet is also said to be fronting Mr Joseph Ole Simei, formerly in ODM, for the Kajiado West constituency on the Jubilee ticket.
“He is determined to have his people on the ballot,” claimed another aspirant who did not want to go on record. However, Mr Mositet dismissed the claims as farfetched.
“They are entitled to their gossip. By now they should be concentrating on telling us what they will do for the people,” said Mr Mositet revealing that he will be receiving more defectors in Namanga tomorrow.
On Thursday, Jubilee Secretary-General Jeremiah Kioni assured members of credible nominations but acknowledged the possibility of other options, including consensus, to pick those to be given tickets.
“As we prepare for the coming nominations, we would like to reiterate that the party is committed to ensuring that nomination processes are fair and reflect our diversity as a party and a nation,” said Mr Kioni.
Mr Kioni noted that discussions are ongoing across all counties so that an agreement can be reached among its aspirants.
“We are striving to ensure that that agreement is mutually acceptable among all aspirants and also feasible to ensure that Jubilee retains its competitive edge over our opponents,” he said.
The party also promised to adopt the negotiated democracy formula normally preferred by pastoral communities.
“The party has also resolved to embrace negotiated democracy as this has proved to be one of the ways to deal with the diversity of our great nation. As a matter of fact, negotiated democracy is already being practiced in some areas, particularly among the pastoralist communities,” Mr Kioni added.
