Anti-Riot Police officers cordoned off Jubilee Party headquarters on Wednesday, April 26, locking out party officials from the premises.
Police also lobbed teargas outside the offices in Kileleshwa, Nairobi, to disperse Jeremiah Kioni’s and Kanini Kega’s supporters who clashed over the party takeover. Kioni and Kega are battling for the party's secretary general position.
Party officials allied to Kanini Kega and journalists were barred from entering the offices, leading to a commotion.
Supporters of the two warring groups further engaged police officers in running battles as they attempted to breach the security barriers.
Former Member of the Nairobi County Assembly Mark Ndung'u, present during the standoff, accused the embattled Jubilee Party Secretary General Jeremiah Kioni of occupying the office illegally.
He further claimed that Kioni and his team had disregarded the law by continuously hogging a larger part of the headquarters.
"Our SG is Kanini Kega and we want to access the offices. If they do not want, they should then move the offices to another place," Ndung'u stated.
The party official, allied to Kega and President William Ruto, further claimed that the Kenya Kwanza regime could not recognize party officials running the party from the back door as it was with the previous regimes.
Ndung'u further pointed an accusatory finger at former President Uhuru Kenyatta for declining to offer direction and steer the party grappling with the rise of splinter groups.
"The party leader has never spoken on the matter. We have tried to look for him. You know he is a former President. We have seen him in Mombasa praying for the country and he should continue with the same," he added.
On April 19, two factions of the Jubilee Party, one led by Kanini Kega and the other by Jeremiah Kioni, independently claimed victory concerning the leadership wrangles that rocked the party for months.
Kega-led faction held a press conference claiming he was the new Secretary General (SG) of the Party, while the other team argued that Kioni was still the SG of the troubled party.
Jubilee Party leadership confusion emerged after a ruling by the Political Parties Dispute Tribunal.
