Didmus Barasa to Run Against Tuju in Jubilee Party Polls

Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa on Monday, January 6th, 2020 spoke to Kenyans.co.ke regarding Jubilee Party internal elections that are scheduled for March.

Reiterating that it was time for interim officials who have run the party since its inception to leave, Didmus disclosed that he would go for the Secretary-General's position currently occupied by Raphael Tuju.

"Yes I'm going to run for the Secretary-General of the party, I'll be running against Tuju," he asserted.

Image of Jubilee Secretary General Raphael Tuju at a recent press conference

Barasa, a vocal member of the Tangatanga political grouping that is allied to Deputy President William Ruto, further dismissed calls by some members to postpone the party polls.

Nominated MP Isaac Mwaura had argued that given the internal warring in Jubilee, it was unwise to hold the polls in March as the party would fracture further.

“If we go to the primaries with all these issues, it is going to diminish the status of Jubilee. It will be a mockery of democracy to have polls in this kind of environment,” Mwaura told The Standard.

Barasa, however, maintained that the elections had to take place in March for Jubilee to remain in compliance with the Political Parties Act.

"We must hold elections in March, it's a requirement by law. Anybody who is opposed to the Jubilee Party holding elections in March, those are enemies of the Jubilee Party and they want the party dissolved, which we won't allow," he stated.

Regarding the recent registration of several parties backed by leaders within Jubilee, Barasa dismissed the founders as seeking a way out of Jubilee to create tribal cocoons.

It is believed that the parties such as newly registered The Service Party (TSP) expect to benefit from the expected fallout after the Jubilee polls. TSP has been linked to leaders from Central Kenya including Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri.

"The small parties like the Service Party, maybe their sympathizers are from Jubilee Party and they would want the Jubilee Party to be dissolved so that they can benefit and go back to their tribal parties," argued Barasa.

Tuju had disclosed that registered members of the party from all 47 counties would make up the delegates to participate in the election.

Image of Jubilee Party Headquarters in Pangani, Nairobi