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EALA MP Kanini Kega has spoken following his physical altercation with Jubilee Secretary-General Jeremiah Kioni over their positions in the former ruling party.
Kega and the Sec-Gen played out their differences during a meeting organised by the Centre for Multiparty Democracy (CMD) and attended by Prime CS Musalia Mudavadi in Nairobi on Thursday.
Kioni stormed the meeting accompanied by a cohort of the party who were branded in Jubilee merchandise and interrupted Kega’s address, causing a commotion that saw the meeting halted abruptly.
“I was invited here in my capacity as acting Secretary-General of the party but mostly in my role as Director of Elections for the Jubilee Party,” Kega stated despite having been kicked out of the meeting after the fight.
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He added: “What we have witnessed here today is totally not Jubilee, we don’t fight nor have acrimonious disagreements. We always agree to disagree and respect institutions.”
Decrying international embarrassment, Kega accused Kioni of poor conduct and pointed out that the CMD forum was attended by delegates from abroad.
“The behaviour that you have seen today of the former Secretary-General, to bring goons to come and disrupt an internationally covered function where we had visitors from all over the world, is demeaning to our party and totally unacceptable. We condemn it in the strongest terms possible,” Kega stated.
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Kega is part of a Jubilee party faction that broke away alongside the party’s chairperson, Stewart Madzayo, and held a National Executive Council (NEC) meeting where Kioni and three others were replaced.
While the newly constituted party leadership was ratified by the Registrar of Political Parties, the decision was reversed by the Parties Dispute Tribunal reverting leadership to Kioni and Vice Chair David Murathe.
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Following their public fight, CMD also issued a statement condemning the behaviour of the two leaders and their party.
“The organisers and hosts wish to express our deepest disappointment with the breach of order experienced this morning at the event when factions of a member political party brought internal party differences to the open and clashed publicly before guests and partners… We take great exception with the conduct of Kioni who walked into and disrupted an ongoing session in which Kanini was participating.
”The CMD-Kenya Board is seized of the happenings and there will be deliberations on the next course of action on Jubilee,” CMD’s statement read.
Kioni and the Jubilee Party are yet to address the confrontation.