More Jubilee Senators Under the Scope as Purge Continues

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Jubilee Party Secretary-General Raphael Tuju addresses journalists at Jubilee Headquarters, Thika Road in 2019
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Jubilee Party is looking into expelling more Senators, a day after six nominated Senators were kicked out for allegedly violating the party's constitution.

The expulsion of nominated senators Isaac Mwaura, Mary Yiane, Waqo Naomi Jilo, Millicent Omanga, Prengei Victor and Iman Falhada Dekow on Monday 8, comes a day before Jubilee is set to hold a Senate Parliamentary Group meeting to discuss the Senate business. 

Reports allege that Jubilee may announce more changes in the Senate leadership, with Majority Whip and Murang'a Senator, Irungu Kang'ata, likely to lose his role in the Senate

Kang'ata had in early January released a letter to President Uhuru Kenyatta, warning him that the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) would fail in Mt Kenya because it was not popular among the residents. The letter elicited mixed reactions from BBI proponents and critics forcing Kenyatta to respond. 

The president's response was, however, fiery and warned that he would act to quell any revolt in his party and also face off any politician who would oppose BBI. 

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ODM leader Raila Odinga (right) with Murang'a Senator Irungu Kang'ata at the burial of the latter's father on February 24, 2020
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Irungu Kang'ata

"Don’t assume that a lion that has been rained on is a cat. Some people have written letters to me, thinking that I don’t know what I am doing. I don’t want anyone to lecture me. You know I am the President, and I am in charge of this government. As the President, I know where I am, and I know where I am heading to," Kenyatta vented. 

Kang'ata declined to recant the letter as more politicians, even those aligned with Kenyatta supported his stance. On January 10, he hinted that he may lose his job and acknowledged that he was ready to step out of office. 

He added that he had been left out of a Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) team formulated to spearhead sensitisation campaigns for the report in the Mount Kenya region.

"I heard they want to take my Senate leadership position immediately after the BBI referendum. Already they have removed me from the BBI campaigns leadership in Mt. Kenya region. If the party decided to remove me from the position of the whip because of my stand, then I will accept and thank them for giving me the chance to serve," Kang'ata claimed while speaking at Inooro FM

Jubilee Secretary General, Raphael Tuju, declined to speak on the Senate PG, insisting that he was not a member of the Senate. He, nonetheless, reiterated that the party would expel any member dubbed a rebel and who would undermine the party's authority and constitution. 

"I am not a Senator and neither do I participate in Senate matters, but I believe I will be informed on any developments from the house," Tuju said at an interview with KTN News on Monday night, January 8. 

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President Uhuru Kenyatta (right) with Jubilee Secretary-General Raphael Tuju (left) at the All Saints Cathedral, Nairobi in October 2015
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