Jubilee Party coup was planned by Gov’t - Uhuru Kenyatta claims

Former President Uhuru Kenyatta now claims that troubles ailing the Jubilee Party were planned by the Kenya Kwanza government and executed with its support.

Uhuru revealed that, while it was his initial plan to hand over the party to new leadership after retiring from the presidency, the alleged attempt by government operatives to forcefully kick him out did not sit well with him.

The retired Head of State termed the move as an affront to the country’s democracy, adding that he thereby resolved to stay on and fight for the party he helped bring to glory.

“My plan was always to surrender my party, but what I completely rejected was the coup that was planned by this government to take over my party forcefully. And I said let the members decide, but I will not hand over to some puppet group of people because they have government support, that is not democracy,” he said during an addres on Friday outside his son's Karen home.

“That is not to say that I was not willing to hand over, I wanted to hand over, I was prepared to hand over, but I found to be completely illegitimate and unacceptable in a democratic state is to be forced to hand over to a group of puppeteers. I stood up and said let the members of Jubilee choose who they want to lead them, and that is the person I shall hand over to.”

Uhuru went ahead to add that he bears no ill will against the run-away Jubilee Party faction led by EALA MP Kanini Kega and his Nominated counterpart Sabina Chege who were seen to be on the frontline of the plot to wrestle over leadership of the political outfit from his grasp.

“I have no issue, they’re free to do whatever they want, that’s their business. My issue is the membership, the people, the agenda that Jubilee went to the election with; that is what needs to be defended. What individuals do, you go ask them, I carry no grudges against anybody,” he stated.

The Political Parties Disputes Tribunal (PPDT) on July 10, 2023 confirmed Kanini Kega as the new Jubilee Secretary General, while upholding the decision by the party's National Executive Committee to suspend Jeremiah Kioni, David Murathe, and Kagwe Gichohi.

The tribunal also affirmed the decisions that had been taken by the Kanini Kega faction to institute disciplinary action against errant party members and nullified the decisions of the meeting convened by the Kioni faction and attended by the ex-Head of State.

The Kega faction then announced that it intended to effect leadership changes where Sabina Chege was set to replace Uhuru as the party leader.

This came after the faction led by Jeremiah Kioni moved to the High Court's Civil Division to challenge the decision saying they were apprehensive that they suffered grave injustice before the members of the tribunal in violation of their constitutionally guaranteed right to a fair hearing.