Jubilee Party to elect officials next week – DP Ruto

Members of the Jubilee Party will next week elect interim party officials ahead of the 2017 General Election.

Deputy President, William Ruto, said that the party will elect interim party officials at the county level in readiness for the 2017 polls.

Ruto, while addressing a gathering at the Kurgung High school grounds in Mosop, Nandi County, said the interim party officials will manage Jubilee’s affairs until substantive party officials are installed after the August 8, 2017 elections.

Ruto says the party will involve all its supporters in running a fair electoral process and picking leaders who have the people’s backing.

Elected leaders and aspirants will be tasked with the responsibility of voting in the interim officials.

Early November, President Uhuru Kenyatta announced that the Jubilee Party would install officials after the 2017 polls.

His move was meant to stem the uprising that resulted from various elected leaders declaring themselves Jubilee Party officials in their respective regions.

Late November, two rival groups came to a near fist fight in Embu after one of them took to the streets to oppose the supposed appointment of Manyatta Member of Parliament, John Muchiri, to lead the county’s Jubilee presidential campaign team.

Chanting different slogans, the demonstrators took to the streets to express their disapproval of the appointment.

One of the protesters, Martin Muchangi, called on the president to appoint another person with no vested interests and the desire to bring the people together, rather than divide them.

Early November, former Cabinet Minister, Raphael Tuju, was appointed the head of the Jubilee Party Secretariat following a meeting between President Uhuru Kenyatta and the party’s campaign team.

Tuju’s appointment appeared to be aimed at giving the party a national appeal, with President Kenyatta calling on the party’s supporters to focus on its agenda of uniting Kenyans.

The DP’s announcement may now see intensive lobbying among interested persons who may want to directly or indirect influence the next year’s polls.