President Uhuru Kenyatta's Jubilee Party has hired 20,000 clerks to conduct the party nominations after the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) declined to oversee the primaries slated for April 21.
The party stated that it had already recruited over 20,000 clerks who would be deployed to oversee its high-stake nominations for all elective seats in a single day
“If the template you are using in all the counties is the same, what stops you from rolling it out in the nominations in a single day?” the party’s secretary-general Raphael Tuju in defence of the decision.
Speaking to a local daily on Sunday, Mr Tuju further stated that the party would benefit from the technical advice by the IEBC and that they would not leave anything to chance.
“We want to do these nominations our way and depending on the technical advice by the IEBC, we hope to get it right.
“We want to leave nothing to chance. We are already printing ballot papers after we asked aspirants to confirm their details. We will start distributing them by April 15,” Tuju stated.
He further emphasised that the polling stations would be merged only in consultation with aspirants and the county election boards, and dismissed claims that doing the nominations on one day would stretch the party’s capacity.
Sources privy to the matter indicated that President Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto would not be partisan in the process and insisted that they would not favour any of their close associates during the primaries.
“I will not interfere at all with the Jubilee nominations. That, I promise. We want the people to decide,” President Kenyatta had earlier stated in a media interview.
