NAIROBI, Kenya Feb 5 – President Uhuru Kenyatta has declared the start of Jubilee campaigns, after months of uncertainty in the ruling party which does not intend to field a presidential candidate in the August elections.
Kenyatta, whose second and final term ends in August has lately given clear signals he is keen to have Opposition chief Raila Odinga and not his Deputy William Ruto who started campaigns in 2018 as soon as they were voted in for a second term.
“If anyone asks you where Jubilee has ben in the near past, just tell them we had gone to work to serve Kenyans,” he told a meeting of Jubilee legislators at State House, Nairobi ahead of a National Delegates Convention (NDC) scheduled for later this month.
A statement issued by the party Secretary General Raphael Tuju stated that Jubilee will not field a presidential candidate, and will instead “support a presidential candidate with whom we share common ideals, who will treat us with respect and whom we can form the next government as an anchor partner to continue with the work done during the last 10 years.”
“Jubilee has been silent because it has been at work. Now that the political season is with us, it’s moving into politics,” Kenyatta said.
Despite Kenyatta exiting the political scene after completing his 10-year constitutional term as the head of state, the party has agreed to have him steer the party in the 2022 general elections.
The meeting at Statehouse comes days before the party’s National Delegates Convection slated on February 25 and 26 at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC).
The delegates conference is expected to ratify support for Odinga in the presidential race.
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