Jubilee Party logo.
NAIROBI, Kenya Aug 26 – The Jubilee Party has broken ranks with the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Party over a perceived reciprocation pact it had on fielding candidates on either’s stronghold regions in an event of a by-election.
In a statement signed by the ruling party’s Secretary-General Raphael Tuju on Monday, the party announced that it will be fielding a candidate in the Kibra by-election slated for November 7, following the death of Ken Okoth who succumbed to cancer.
Tuju said the decision was arrived at following wide consultation within the rank and file of the party, a verdict that is set to ruffle feathers with ODM and put to test the dalliance the two parties share following the March 9, 2018 handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga.
“Following consultations within the party leadership with respect to Kibra constituency, we would like to communicate to our membership that the Jubilee Party will be fielding a candidate in the forthcoming Kibra Constituency by-election,” Tuju said, a day after Odinga declared his party will not endorse any candidate for the mini poll.
Consequently, the Jubilee Party asked interested candidates to apply for the party nomination ticket in the race that ODM is widely expected to retain.
“Our analysis and consultations confirm that our Jubilee Party is competitive enough in the forthcoming political contest,” he added.
It was after the handshake last year that the Jubilee Party in the first mini-poll after the 2017 General Election – Kitui West parliamentary election- declared that it will not field a candidate in the race that saw Wiper Party’s Edith Nyenze declared the winner.
Tuju was quoted at the time saying the decision was based “in the spirit of the handshake”.
Months later in July last year, the Jubilee Party also announced that it would not be fronting a candidate in the Migori Senatorial mini-poll in a race that saw Senator Ochilo Ayacko win.
This had become a trend where the Raila Odinga-led outfit welcomed warmly with the outfit vowing to reciprocate the same in future by-elections in areas perceived to be Jubilee strongholds.
In the Embakasi South mini-poll, the Jubilee Party also decided to keep off the affair despite a Jubilee candidate – Samwel Malaki who later vied as an independent- being dismissed by the party.
ODM’s devotion to the pact was later put to test in April this year in the Wajir West parliamentary election after it opted not to field a candidate albeit circumstantial after its initial candidate Ahmed Kolosh decamped from ODM and subsequently declared winner.
Jubilee Party’s announcement is set to mark the beginning of a tough political duel, with the race touted as a curtain-raiser to the 2022 presidential contest between Deputy President William Ruto who is keen to succeed his boss and the ODM leader who is likely to have a fifth stab at the presidency after losing out 1997, 2002, 2007 and in 2017.
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