Nandi Hills lawmaker Alfred Keter has questioned the relationship between the Jubilee Party and the Communist Party of China (CPC), blaming it for the 'introduction of communist tendencies at an alarming rate'.
Reacting to reports that the ruling party's legislators had been barred from freely voicing their opinions on certain topics, Keter further blamed the executive for making the Jubilee-controlled National Assembly lose its independence.
“Jubilee should re-examine its engagement with the Communist Party of China so that we don’t fall into the trap of dismembering our democratic space.
“From the recent developments, it is clear that communist tendencies are being introduced in our system at an alarming rate,” Keter explained.
A delegation from the CPC first flew into the country to meet President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2014, in the early days of his Presidency.
[caption caption="President Uhuru Kenyatta meeting a delegation of CPC officials"]
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The delegation was led by Guo Jinlong, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC's Central Committee who explained that they planned on working closely with Jubilee, which was at the time a coalition of various parties.
“We want both our political parties to work together to meet the development aspirations of the people of our two countries,” President Kenyatta stated following the meeting.
After 13 parties merged to officially form the Jubilee Party in 2016, 50 Jubilee members were sent to China to be trained by the CPC on effective ways of running the party right from the grassroot level.
In 2018, CPC officials announced that they would give Jubilee members 20 scholarships annually to deepen ties between the two parties.
CPC Deputy Director of Policy and Research office, Wang Xiaohui, explained that beneficiaries of the scholarships would learn skills on grassroots mobilization, democracy, and party management.
[caption caption="Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter"]
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