As wrangles in the ruling Jubilee party escalate, Secretary-General Raphael Tuju has dared Deputy President William Ruto’s allies to make good on their threats to eject him from office.
Tuju irked members of the DP’s camp after he published the contested list of National Management Committee (NMC) members.
The DP’s allies led by the party Deputy Secretary General Caleb Kositany took issue with the move accusing Tuju of disregarding the Registrar of Political Parties directive to activate internal dispute resolution mechanism after the list was contested.
The Ruto men said they will seek to remove Tuju from office for failing in his mandate.
But Tuju has now dared the “Tanga Tanga” allied MPs to “bring it on”.
The DP and his “army” had faulted the party secretary-general for plotting illegal control of the party. They termed the changes as a fraud as the party has never had a meeting since 2017.
“There has been no National Executive Council meeting, no dispute resolution meeting. Why did he publish the names without any resolutions?” Kositany posed.
Read: Tuju Finally Publishes Changes In Jubilee Party Leadership Despite DP Ruto Protests
In an interview with Nation on Monday, Tuju accused Ruto’s allies of pushing for the meeting as a means to solve issues he said were unrelated to the running of the party.
“People have been going around issuing ultimatums to the President and the party that we need to do such and such or else … Let us see that or else of yours,” Tuju told the local media.
Tuju, who doubles up as Cabinet Secretary without portfolio, dismissed as fake a list circulating on social media of 58 MPs allied to President Uhuru Kenyatta said to have been invited for a parliamentary meeting in State House, Nairobi.
He ruled out plans for such a meeting for now.
“It is fake news. There is no parliamentary group meeting of any kind. These people have extraneous issues unrelated to the party and now they want to use a parliamentary group meeting to settle them. It is not that they want a PG at all, they just want to prosecute other issues outside of the party,” Tuju said.
Ruto and his allies have in the recent past branded Tuju as an outsider out to control the party. The leaders argue that Tuju’s loyalty is in ODM.
“You came to Jubilee and now you want to control our party? As who? You failed in your party. You have never succeeded in forging unity wherever you go,” Bahati MP Kimani Ngunjiri said recently.
As members of Ruto’s camp continue to fire salvos, Tuju has maintained that on changing the NMC leadership he was acting on instructions from President Kenyatta.
Since the names were published in local dailies on May 2, Ruto is yet to comment on the matter.
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