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No Jubilee Saba Saba rally at Uhuru Park – Duale

The Leader of the Majority in the National Assembly Aden Duale indicated that the party is only privy to national prayers being held on Sunday which they will attend/PSCU

The Leader of the Majority in the National Assembly Aden Duale indicated that the party is only privy to national prayers being held on Sunday which they will attend/PSCU

NAIROBI, Kenya, July 3 – The Jubilee coalition now says it has not booked any rally at Uhuru Park, and organisers of any meeting there are not acting at the coalition’s behest.

The Leader of the Majority in the National Assembly Aden Duale indicated that the party is only privy to national prayers being held on Saturday which they will attend.

“For the avoidance of misunderstanding, I confirm that neither the Jubilee Alliance, nor any of its affiliates has made any reservation of the park for that day. The only event we are aware of scheduled for that venue is inter-denominational prayers to be held on Saturday, 5th July, 2014, to which the Alliance has been invited,” Duale said.

Earlier on Thursday, Jubilee politicians Moses Kuria and Ferdinand Waititu inspected Uhuru Park where they plan to hold a rally under the banner of the Mavuno Youth Forum.

“We did not apply to us this venue recently. We applied in June 9 this year and we were given approval and in fact, if you can look at these documents, we were given the go ahead to pay on June 24 and we did so and these are the receipts,” Waititu said after they toured the grounds.

“The venue that CORD had wanted was Kamukunji so they should go there. We are here and we will continue with our meeting… we do not know where the confusion is coming from but we are telling them that we are here and we are asking our youth in the Mavuno Forum that they should come out in large numbers. We do not know what the confusion is all about,” he stressed.

Kuria, the TNA aspirant for the Gatundu South parliamentary seat said that CORD was just intent on creating drama to get recognition and they should desist from doing so.

“You know that if you pay for a service you have to get what you have paid for and we have done that. CORD people should please stop creating drama in this country. We do not want drama. They applied for Kamukunji and they should go there. Let them not plane to create sideshows,” he said.

READ CORD got Uhuru Park approval on July 1

READ Kimaiyo orders security for Saba Saba rallies

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Their move was met with criticism by CORD leaders who also visited Uhuru Park and said they have legitimacy to the grounds.

“When you go to the County Government of Nairobi to book a venue, there is no provision for making an advance payment. The cost of hiring this venue is Sh250,000 which we have paid. We understand that you have been shown the receipt by some spoilers that they have deposited Sh50,000. Of course there is no such process. We are going to be here on Monday, the police have said so, the City Government have said so and we have said so,” said Ford Kenya Leader Moses Wetangula who read a statement on behalf of CORD.

Both groups produced documents to show they had secured the venue from City Hall.

Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero later tweeted a document dated July 1 where he approved CORD’s request to hold the Saba Saba rally at Uhuru Park.

Nairobi Police Chief Benson Kibui told Capital FM News that they were only prepared to provide security for the CORD rally and that they were not aware of any parallel event.

According to Wetangula, the event will be a peaceful one and he assured all Kenyans all precautions have been taken.

“The worry about people exiting from town is exactly what we are talking about. The increased heightened ethnic tension that is a product of acts and omissions of the Jubilee Government is what the rally will be all about. The failure to implement the TJRC that was supposed to attend to and cure all these historical injustices that our country has gone through will also be to be discussed,” he said.

“The rally in Tononoka had no police cover. It went without incident. The rally in Kibera, Masinde Muliro Gardens in Kakamega, Mlolongo, Baba Dogo and others, thousands and thousands of enthusiastic Kenyans came out to cheer us and to listen to us.”

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