Jubilee Secretary General Raphael Tuju has announced that the party will show no mercy as it moves to crack the whip on Members of Parliament who have shown disloyalty to the party.
Terming them as errant members, Tuju said some MPs “hanged on the goodwill of the party” to get elected, only for them to change direction soon after clinching their seats.
In a press briefing at the Jubilee Party Headquarters, Tuju said the party expects “100 percent fidelity” from its members, adding that any act of betrayal will not be tolerated.
“We will deal with those errant members. When it is Members of Parliament we expect 100% fidelity to the contract they signed with the party. And we do have those contracts available for any inspection. When they were going for elections they said they were going to support the party. They hanged on the goodwill of the party to get their positions. For them to now change tact midstream is nothing but betrayal of the party,” said Tuju.
He went further to state that some members had gone to the extent of using party stationery to advance their own agenda, adding that “we are going to be not very merciful when it comes to discipline in the party.”
“We are going to be not very merciful when it comes to discipline in the party. We have been very generous to our members some even using, without authority, the stationery of the party and expecting that we are going to allow such kind of disfunction,” said Tuju.
“I’m sorry they are mistaken and disciplinary action is going to be taken. But whatever disciplinary action is taken we want to assure Kenyans that we will follow due process.”
His remarks come in the wake of sweeping changes that have seen the Jubilee Party kick out rebel legislators who are allied to Deputy President William Ruto from powerful positions in the Senate. They include Kipchumba Murkomen, Susan Kihika and Kithure Kindiki who were ejected from the Majority Leader, Majority Whip and Deputy Speaker positions respectively.
With the battle lines drawn and the clean-up now heading to National Assembly, Tuju says the party’s National Executive Committee, after securing President Uhuru Kenyatta’s appointment, will convene anytime from Thursday ahead of a parliamentary group meeting where more changes will be effected.
“When we meet with MPs, if they have cases to answer we are going to process those cases and the party is free to make any changes that it requires to make at the National Assembly. That is the prerogative of the party and we will make those changes when and if we feel its necessary,” said the Jubilee SG.
He pointed out that while some changes will be made during the parliamentary group meeting, others will be effected through a resolution of the National Executive Committee (NEC).
Tuju was categorical that any member who goes against the party position and decides to follow anyone else including the deputy president stands accused.
“When the majority leader tells the members that this is the party line, they all have their independent vote and if they decide not to vote according to the party line and decide to hide behind any individual whether it is the deputy president or secretary general they stand accused,” said Tuju.
He reiterated that due process would be followed as the party’s disciplinary organs embark on the clean-up seen by political pundits as a bid by the President to regain control of the party.
“We have a party disciplinary committee which is headed by someone who qualifies to be a High Court judge. We will take those matters to the disciplinary committee and pursue them to the logical conclusion,” said Tuju.
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