Jubilee denies claims some aspirants have already been awarded nomination certificates

dennis kibet

February 26, 2017 4:44 PM

The party’s Head of Secretariat Raphael Tuju blamed dishonest aspirants for peddling the falsehoods that they are already in possession of the certificates.

Jubilee Party head of secretariat Raphael Tuju with IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati after a consultative meeting at Jubilee Secretariat in Pangani.

The Jubilee Party has denied claims that some aspirants have been already awarded party nomination certificates ahead of the August elections.

“We wish to make it categorically clear that the Jubilee Party has not issued certificates to anyone,” Tuju said.

He maintained that the party is committed to a free, fair, open and democratic nomination process and are currently consulting the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) on the matter.

Propaganda tactics

“It is conceivable that such propaganda tactics are used by some aspirants to scare away potential competitition,” Tuju said.

The Head of Secretariat said that they were aware of some people claiming to be close to the President and his Deputy claiming to be in a position to secure them certificates at a “small fee”.

“President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto made it very clear during a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting on February 21, that they have no preferred candidates and will abide by the choices made by party members,” he said.

He told aspirants to confirm what was mandatory and required from them from the party’s headquarters or the website.

Aspirants concerns

This was after some of the aspirants had raised concerns on the number of conditions and documents required in the nomination process.

However, Tuju said not all the conditions may be necessary at the nomination stage.

Last week, the party said that the IEBC will conduct the Jubilee Party primaries slated for March.

IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati and his team met with the Jubilee Party officials at the party’s headquarters in Pangani, Nairobi to discuss on the modalities of the nomination process of party aspirants.

The party had earlier asked the electoral body to help them in conducting its internal primaries ahead of the August polls in order to ensure free and fair nominations.

dennis kibet