Rashid Minyong’a Ditches Jubilee Party For Wiper After Raphael Tuju's Directive

Rashid Minyong’a, an aspirant in the Embakasi South by-election has quit Jubilee Party after the Secretary-General, Raphael Tuju announced the party would not field a candidate. 



According to Minyonga, there was more than met the eye in Jubilee's actions.



He alluded to a wider political scheme in denying him the ticket, claiming it could be because of his perceived closeness to Deputy President William Ruto.



Tuju had stated that the decision not to field candidates in Ugenya and Embakasi South Constituencies was to prevent a political confrontation between Jubilee and the Opposition following the Handshake.

“People are free to speculate or spin a narrative why we are not fielding candidates. But it is the position of the party not to have a candidate. We have made it clear that we want to foster unity and avoid unnecessary political confrontations,” Tuju proclaimed.



However, Minyong’a claimed he was surprised when he confronted Tuju and was told he was acting on "instructions from above".



Minyong'a has since moved to Peter Kenneth's party Kenya National Congress (KNC) to face off with ODM’s Irshad Sumra and Julius Mawathe of Wiper Party.



Elsewhere, on Monday, Kalonzo Musyoka’s Wiper party told the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) to brace for a bruising battle in the forthcoming by-election slated for April 5.



The seat fell vacant after the Supreme Court on December 21, 2018, nullified the election of Julius Mawathe on grounds that he was not validly elected in the 2017 General Election.

The court also nullified the election of Christopher Karan (Ugenya) on the same grounds leading to IEBC announcing a by-election.