Sources within President Uhuru Kenyatta's Jubilee Party have confirmed that the party intends to give direct nominations to strong candidates contesting within the opposition strongholds.
With the party primaries only a few days away, party officials believe that the party will benefit by having rival aspirants reach a consensus to avoid friction within the party, infiltration by the opposition and hurting the presidential campaigns.
The Jubilee Party has been in deliberations to reach a consensus between rival Nairobi gubernatorial aspirants Senator Mike Sonko and former Gatanga Member of Parliament Peter Kenneth.
The party fears that the long-standing feud between the two will likely cause upheaval within the party if the two candidates go to the primaries and this may affect the presidential vote.
The Star reports that sources within the party confirmed that the President and his Deputy William Ruto have sanctioned the talks emphasizing that the aspirants must agree.
"The leadership wants a scenario of not having party primaries in Nairobi," the source divulged.
The reports also suggest that five constituencies will also have the Jubilee aspirants agree on who among them will receive the direct ticket.
The constituencies are Embakasi West, Embakasi East - where Babu Owino is contesting on an Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party ticket - Ruaraka, Lang'ata and Kibra.
"We must be more organised as a party so that we concentrate on the Presidential campaigns," the sources reiterated.
Recently, President Kenyatta had criticised the ODM Party led by Raila Odinga for handing direct nomination tickets to candidates. Kenyatta would then emphasize that Jubilee will not follow the path of dishing out tickets noting that it undermines democracy.
