Jubilee Party ‘appoints’ Election Board members

Former Kenya Revenue Authority Commissioner General, Michael Waweru, and Methodist Church clergyman, Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia, are set to be appointed to the eight-member Jubilee Election Board.

Mr Waweru and Rev. Kobia will be unveiled alongside former Jubilee Alliance Party (JAP) Election Board chairman, Aden Noor Ali, Hussein Mohammed and Leah Ntimama.

According to sources privy to the appointments, the team will be tasked to lead the Jubilee Party – President Uhuru Kenyatta’s re-election vehicle, through the nomination process and eventually the August 8 General Election.

The party’s secretariat is expected to make the official announcement once the eight have been contacted and are agreeable to the appointments.

The naming of the board members comes at a time the Jubilee Party is under pressure from its members and supporters across the country to deliver a credible nomination to stem out possible fallout after the primaries.

There have been voices of dissatisfaction with some aspirants claiming that nomination certificates have been issued to a few others and that the party has already identified candidates for various seats especially in its perceived strongholds.

This has led to decamping from the party by a section of leaders including Embu Senator and gubernatorial aspirant, Lenny Kivuti.

The Jubilee Secretariat, however, has moved to assure the members of a free and fair nomination process saying that it will do all within its mandate to ensure the process goes on without any manipulation of favouritism whatsoever.

The party has also initiated talks with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to conduct its primaries in a move to stem out any cases of irregularities.

Last week, Jubilee and IEBC agreed to form a committee to deliberate on the modalities of conducting the primaries.

The opposition – National Super Alliance (NASA) has, however, moved to court to stop the electoral body from conducting the primaries arguing that the ruling coalition is planning to use the taxpayers’ money to fund its nominations, a claim Jubilee has dismissed as propaganda.