Tuju Moves to End Jubilee Deal With UDA

Ruto and Tuju collage
Deputy President William Ruto (left) and Jubilee Party Secretary-General Raphael Tuju (right).
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Jubilee Secretary General Raphael Tuju on Tuesday, April 20, wrote a letter to the Parties Registrar on the dissolution of a partial coalition pact with Party of Development and Reforms (PDR).

The party, which is now called the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), is currently associated with Deputy President William Ruto.

In the letter, Tuju indicated that since the coalition, all the PDR officials whom they had previously engaged in discussions had changed. 

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Jubilee Secretary-General Raphael Tuju at a press conference outside the party headquarters in Pangani, Nairobi in August 2020
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He added that the current officials were exhibiting hostility by actively fielding candidates in areas outside the Counties of West Pokot, Wajir, Isiolo, Garissa and Mandera.

Further, the secretary general stated that there was no harmonisation in terms of policy and vision in the coalition.

"We have found ourselves as strange bedfellows especially with the UDA use of their identity as 'hustlers' which has negative dictionary meaning and connotation. This is also at complete variance of our motto Tuko pamoja," reads the letter in part.

Tuju added that some members in the UDA party had constantly referred to Jubilee in derogatory terms in the public domain.

He explained that in the run up to the 2017 elections, the party had entered an arrangement of cooperation with PDR in the Counties of West Pokot, Wajir, Isiolo, Garissa and Mandera where it had experienced a challenge in terms of clan guided democracy.

"We lodged a proposed Coalition Agreement with PDR in 2018 based on those specific objectives as captured in Article 3 of the Agreement," reads the letter in part.

The members of the coalition were meant to acquire certain requirements including; to deposit a formally signed agreement; coalition nomination rules, coalition election rules, coalition organs and their functions as well as provisions for dissolution and dispute resolution.

"Whereas a working relationship has subsisted in the few counties that the parties intended, the members did not move or have not met these requirements as is expected by both Statute and the Regulations," reads an excerpt of the statement.

Deputy President William Ruto
Deputy President William Ruto
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