Jubilee MP threatens to ditch party

The House leadership row in Jubilee Party took a new twist on Friday after Marakwet East MP Bowen Kangongo threatened to ditch the ruling party over what he termed as interference in Parliament affairs by the presidency.

This comes after President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday rallied the rest of Jubilee MPs to pass a vote of no confidence against Mr. Bowen, Alfred Keter of Nandi Hills, Alex Kosgey of Emgwen, Silas Tiren of Moiben and James Gakuya of Embakasi North for defying him and taking up leadership positions of parliamentary committees in December.

Bowen was elected the vice chair of the Environment and Natural Resources Committee while Keter was elected the chairperson of the Labour and Social Affairs committee.

Tiren was elected as the chairperson of the Agriculture Committee while Kosgey and Gakuya were elected as the chairpersons of the Trade Industry and Cooperatives and the Broadcast and Library committees respectively.

Speaking in Eldoret on Thursday, Bowen took issue with the latest developments said he might consider leaving Jubilee if the party continues to bulldoze its ideas in Parliament.

“The party dictatorship ended a long time ago with KANU where if you had a divergent view with the executive you were de-whipped and removed from the party,” said Bowen.

The five are said to have reneged on a Jubilee parliamentary group meeting deal where it was agreed on how to share the House leadership positions to reflect regional and gender balance.

“It is not the issue of regional balance but personal interests. There are some cartels interested in the importation of sugar and fertilizer and as such do not want certain people to head the agriculture committee,” said Bowen.

On Thursday, Keter faulted his Labour committee colleagues for ganging up against him saying that the cartels had succeeded in toppling him.