Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu on Tuesday, June 23 strongly criticized the emerging Jubilee Asili outfit perceived as a break-away party by Deputy President William Ruto and his Tanga Tanga allies in the Jubilee Party.
Wambugu maintained that contrary to claims by allies of the DP, they had not been blocked from accessing the main Jubilee Party headquarters in Pangani, Nairobi.
He argued that the newly established Jubilee Asili Centre where DP Ruto met de-whipped legislators could only be compared to a private club.
Wambugu further claimed that plans to register Jubilee Asili as a party were abandoned after receiving backlash from some quarters when the centre was unveiled.
Referencing the ongoing purge in Jubilee targeting allies of the DP, Wambugu described the Jubilee Asili centre as a place for ousted Jubilee legislators to console each other.
"I think we have seen another backtrack. There was a day when certain Jubilee MPs were all over the place talking about Jubilee Asili as the place of original ideas, and I found it very interesting when Senator Linturi described what they have opened. I understood it as a club where they hang out and comforted each other.
"What are they comforting each other for? My understanding is that anybody can walk into the Jubilee Centre on Pangani right now, no one is going to stop them.
He described the move as mischief, adding that the ousted lawmakers needed to be honest with the public if they wanted to start another party.
"They realized that the backlash is not going to allow them to do that," he explained.
Supporters of the Deputy President had already begun pledging support for Jubilee Asili and widely shared its slogan 'Sote Pamoja'.
Allies of the DP including Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria, Bahati MP Kimani Ngunjiri and former Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale have been spotted at the centre, engaged in various meetings.
Kuria has maintained that the centre was established for party members to figure out how to live up to the original ideals of the Jubilee Party, hence the name Asili which means original in Kiswahili.
Wambugu, however, claimed that MPs and Senators who recently lost their positions were trying to use Jubilee Asili to paint themselves as victims.
He advised them to follow the example of former National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale who gracefully left his position after being replaced by Kipipiri MP Amos Kimunya on Monday, June 22.
"Most of us MPs and Senators are not leaders in Parliament, we are not committee chairmen or vice-chairmen. Now they're like us but they're out there saying what is happening to us, we're being punished. Nothing has happened, not all of us can be leaders," he asserted.
Watch Wambugu's interview below:
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