Sidelining Uhuru and Jubilee's fate after his exit

Jeremiah Kioni. [File, Standard]

After several years of scheming by President William Ruto’s regime to remove former President Uhuru Kenyatta from the country's political equation, a High Court ruling barring him from holding a party office has finally worked to the government’s advantage.

Government luminaries have used all manner of schemes to frustrate Uhuru from participating in active politics, including repeated threats to stop him from earning his retirement perks provided in the Presidential Retirement Benefits Act for allegedly engaging in partisan politics and allegedly funding the Opposition campaigns.

"Imagine it has taken the intervention of the courts to stop him from engaging in politics when he should be enjoying a decent retirement. What a shame," said Ruto on Tuesday, while campaigning in Siaya County. He claimed that Uhuru was sponsoring area Governor James Orengo and Edwin Sifuna's Linda Mwananchi movement.

Ruto's ally leaders have used the public opinion court and even the Senate and the National Assembly to vilify Uhuru’s engagements in politics, even as other politicians such as East African Legislative Assembly MP Kanini Kega and Jubilee-nominated MP Sabina Chege staged a hostile takeover by removing Uhuru as the party leader and installing Chege as the acting party leader.

Despite being members of Uhuru's Jubilee party, the two used to attend the ruling party United Democratic Alliance (UDA) meetings organised by President Ruto. They staged a coup to take over as the Jubilee party’s Secretary General and Party leader, respectively.

Their short stint of three years as party officials was brought to an end in June last year after the court ruled against them and returned the party to Uhuru’s hands.

 Following the court’s decision to hand back the party to Uhuru’s grip, he convened a Special National Delegates Conference at Jockey Club, where the Former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi was installed as the Deputy, with Uhuru announcing his readiness to step down as the party leader after overseeing grassroots elections that he said would culminate in the National Delegates (NDC) who would elect their preferred party officials.

While regretting a forceful takeover of the party by a section of leaders, Uhuru maintained that those who wanted to occupy various party positions should seek the mandate from the party members "who are the owners of the party" as opposed to embarking on machinations to get the leadership positions.

"I hope that from today, we shall see the end of machinations and embark on a democratic process where members will have a say in the party leadership," he said at the event.

The leadership changes initiated by the party that saw Matiang’i being appointed as a party official, Moitalel ole Kenta as the party’s Secretary General and Jeremiah Kioni redeployed from the Secretary General position to that of Deputy Party leader in charge of Operations were later contested by Former Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu.

Wambugu argued that his rejection of the new changes arose from the legality and constitutionality of changes made within the party, claiming the organs that made the changes had no legal mandate.

The Political Parties Dispute Tribunal dealt the party a major blow after it quashed the appointment and recognition of Ole Kenta as Secretary General of the Jubilee Party, finding that he did not meet the eligibility requirements for the position.

The tribunal ruled that Kenta’s nomination, appointment and recognition as the party’s Secretary General in March 2026 were unlawful and void from the outset.

“It is declared that the nomination, appointment and recognition of the sixth respondent (Hon. Koitalel Ole Kenta) as Secretary General of the first respondent (Jubilee Party) was unlawful and void ab initio,” the tribunal ruled.

The tribunal also issued an order quashing Kenta’s appointment and recognition as Secretary General and directed the party to undertake a fresh process to fill the position if it wished to do so.

The panel, led by Innocent Muganda, found that the appointment was made when Kenta did not meet the eligibility requirements under the Jubilee Party constitution, particularly the requirement on party membership.

“Despite the Applicant (Ngunjiri) being the party who lodged the statutory objection, the 2nd Respondent (Registrar of Political Parties) proceeded to adopt and record the impugned changes without notifying, consulting, hearing, or seeking clarification from the Applicant regarding whether the dispute had in fact been resolved,” the former MP argued.

With Wambugu’s petition coming as a relief to the anti-Jubilee establishment, Tuesday’s judgement by Justice Lawrence Mugambi that barred Uhuru from holding a political party puts the Jubilee party’s fate at stake, as the party has a major leadership vacuum at two sensitive offices that oversee the day-to-day running of the party.

No sooner had the High Court barred Uhuru from holding a political party than Kioni announced his bid to succeed Uhuru, pointing to a major succession war that threatens the soul of the Jubilee party.

Kioni declared his bid to occupy the leadership of the party while calling for a transparent and democratic transition in the former ruling party.

“In light of His Excellency’s call for an open, transparent, and lawful process of handing over the leadership of the party, I hereby offer myself for the position of Party Leader of the great Jubilee Party,” Kioni said.

Additionally, the former Ndaragwa MP rejected the idea of an informal appointment, insisting that Jubilee’s leadership is determined by its delegates.

“Jubilee is a national party and a former ruling party. As such, our leaders are not installed; they are elected by the party delegates at the National Delegates Convention (NDC),” he said.

He said the National Delegates Convention remains central to the party’s leadership structure and should determine who takes over from Uhuru.

“It is this democratic tradition that has defined Jubilee since its founding, and it is this tradition that must guide us now,” Kioni added.

His statements came three days after Wambugu fronted his name as Matiang’i’s running mate, rallying the Jubilee aspirants to ‘popularise’ Kioni in their grassroots campaign.

“We will assist Kioni to capture Mt Kenya region so that you can take it to the State House alongside Matiang’i to take the country forward,” he said.

According to the analysts, Uhuru’s exit as the Jubilee party leader will also occasion his exit as the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Alliance National Executive chairperson, a move that will trigger major realignments in the coming days.

Jonathan Andati noted that Uhuru was the unifying factor in both the United Alternative Government and the Linda Mwananchi alliance, which has Suba South MP Caroli Omondi as the Secretary General and the Spokesperson, respectively, of the two political formations.

“Uhuru’s exit will be accompanied by Jubilee internal turmoil and Azimio’s realignments that may see Matiang’i going back to the drawing board since his political godfather will not be there to protect his interests,” Andati opined.

Yesterday, the Wiper Patriotic Front Party leader told journalists that the Azimio Council will meet on Monday to discuss the High Court ruling, with sources within the Opposition hinting that they want to replace Uhuru with the Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, who leads the Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP).

“Gachagua had objected to the idea of rebranding Azimio but as a strategy to manage him, there is a feeling that he should be co-opted as the chairperson of Azimio before it is rebranded to Ukombozi Alliance,” a party leader within the Opposition said in confidence.