The Jubilee Coalition has called off a delegates conference to nominate presidential flag bearer scheduled for Tuesday after cracks on the mode of nomination deepens.
The coalition said the decision to cancel the conference was arrived at after consultations with the key players to allow for more time to formulate the mode of nomination.
The decision came hours after Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi failed to show up for a joint rally held in Kitui and was said to be in a consultative meeting with his party members to strategize the way forward should the coalition deal fail.
Mudavadi was scheduled to accompany his coalition’s counterparts Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Eldoret North legislator William Ruto and Water Minister Charity Ngilu in a joint rally in Kitu whicjh is Ngilu’s stronghold.
Ngilu joined the Jubilee Coalition after ditching the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy which is associated with Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka and Ford Kenya leader Moses Wetangula.
Kenyatta’s and Mudavadi’s teams disagreed on the mode the coalition will use in nominating the presidential candidate.
Kenyatta’s The National Alliance (TNA) party is said to have ruled out a boardroom deal that Mudavadi’s United Democratic Forum (UDF) is advocating for and instead settled for a delegates conference.
UDF said that the coalition partners should use a consensus approach to settle on the presidential flag bearer while Kenyatta’s team opposed the idea saying that the two should field delegates who will vote to determine the flag bearer.
At the same time, the number of delegates to be fielded by each coalition partners still remain controversial as TNA says that it should be allowed to field more delegates as it has more parties affiliated to it compared to UDF.
On the other hand, UDF says that the delegates may be easily swayed to vote in Kenyatta as the presidential candidate for the coalition.
The Kenyatta team argues that the boardroom agreement will cause friction in Mt. Kenya region which is Kenyatta’s stronghold.
The teams designing the nomination rules and formulae are said to have held a series of marathon meetings Sunday night to strategize on the way forward and ensure the coalition does not fall or disintegrate after the nominations.
Sources close to Mudavadi and his UDF party say that the Deputy Premier was to skip the delegates conference.
During the Kitui rally, Kenyatta called on Mudavadi to gather courage and face him in the delegates conference as they seek to settle on a presidential candidate.
Kenyatta said that the delegates represent the voice of the Kenayn people and the voice of the people must be respected.
More differences are emerging in the Jubilee Coalition and its future looks fragile.
By Koome Kimonye
