Supporters of the Jubilee Party were on saturday assured by Deputy President William Ruto that aspirants eyeing various seats on the new outfit's ticket would undergo free and fair primaries in next year's nominations.
Ruto who also doubles up as Deputy Party Leader promised interested candidates of a transparent exercise saying the party's top echelon would not impose leaders on the electorate.
Ruto reiterated that Jubilee would have its primaries conducted by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to stem out any suspicion of favouratism.
“The Government of Kenya will spend public resources to ensure credible party primaries are carried out,” he said. Senate Leader of Majority Kindiki Kithure said JP will not have preferred candidates during nominations and stressed that “no aspirant will be treated unfairly on the basis of age, gender, tribe or religious affiliations.”
“It will not matter if you are male or female, young or old any more. We are changing the story of politics of our country,” said Kindiki. President Uhuru Kenyatta and Ruto will seek re-election on the JP party and were on Friday unveiled as the Party Leader and Deputy Party Leader respectively when the parties were merging officially at Kasarani Indoor Arena.
Uhuru has been in the forefront of assuring candidates of a free and fair exercise and even urged politicians who lose during party nominations to support the winners and stick with the party. He told would be nomination losers that they shall be accommodated in the government, which he said was big enough to accommodate every one.
With the ban on party-hopping, aspirants had expressed nomination fears with some demanding for an assurance that Jubilee will not favour the incumbents, especially who had played key roles in the birth of the party.
Nairobi Senate aspirant Jack Owino cautioned that individuals close to the President and his deputy should not expect favours to be given tickets unfairly at the expense of democracy.
“For the party to take over as the single-most popular political party, the leadership should not be swayed by incumbents and people close to them,” he said during the National Delegates Conference held at Bomas of Kenya on Thursday.
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