Deputy President William Ruto issued a new directive to his brigade on how they would engage with President Uhuru Kenyatta and Jubilee leaders allied to the president.
Ruto urged his allies to desist from attacking Kenyatta and opposing Jubilee plans, a few days after holding a three-hour meeting with Kenyatta at State House.
Insiders detailed that the DP was not pleased with Soy MP Caleb Kositany's decision to counter Jubilee Secretary General Raphael Tuju's claims that the President would remain as party leader even beyond his tenure in 2022.
Kositany, who doubles as Jubilee's Deputy Secretary-General, had written to the Registrar of Political Parties seeking to force Jubilee to conduct grassroots elections.
Ruto's allies believed that elections within the party would be their last bet at grabbing power from Kenyatta who purged the DP's allies and ejected them from top party seats. The President also made changes at the National Executive Committee mandated with steering the party.
The DP ordered Kositany to withdraw the letter and ordered his troops to cease fire after a sustained veiled attack on the president and other Jubilee leaders.
His allies, however, while speaking with a local daily, stated that the DP's tactical plan is to allow Jubilee to die a natural death arguing that it was already a broken and divided party.
"We are not interested in fighting for it anymore. No one will use Jubilee to run for Presidency in 2022. Jubilee isn't a party anymore without Ruto," Belgut MP Nelson Koech stated.
Ruto has numerously reiterated that he is not interested in fighting with his juniors at Jubilee. In an interview with Citizen TV's Joe Ageyo on Thursday night, August 27, Ruto hinted at quitting the Jubilee Party after accusing President Uhuru Kenyatta allies of hijacking the faction.
"Jubilee is not functioning as a party. If it becomes hopeless and Jubilee is hijacked by the brokers, then Waswahili wanasema, ‘kuvunjika kwa mwiko sio mwisho wa kupika (The wise men say that a broken cooking stick should not be a reason for not cooking), Ruto stated.
He also stated that he will not oppose the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), but called for dialogue.
However, his efforts to reportedly register a new party dubbed Jubilee Asili were blocked in September 2020. Jubilee Vice-Chairman David Murathe warned that Kenyatta's camp would block all means to have him run for Presidency under Jubilee Party or create another party resembling Jubilee.
