National positions in Jubilee Party will be distributed according to the parliamentary strength of the affiliate parties.
The top two positions were expected to held by President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto. However, President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto yesterday, Friday, July 29, rejected an opportunity presented to them to become permanent party leaders.
The two will lead the party on an interim basis until September when the party will be officially launched.
The two were invited to become the permanent leaders of the forthcoming Jubilee Party that is set to be President Uhuru’s re-election vehicle in the upcoming 2017 General Election.
All other positions will be distributed according to this formula, according to Meru Senator Kiraitu Murungi said. New Ford Kenya leaders had asked to be given key positions after the party became the first to dissolve. But Mr Kiraitu said a pre-merger agreement provided that parliamentary strength would be a key determinant of the post-merger political set up in Jubilee.
“We still do not have the umbrella party and the moment of sharing party positions has not yet come but they (New Ford Kenya) know very well the type of positions they are likely to get going by what they are bringing into the new party,” Kiraitu said.
The senator, who also co-chairs the Select Committee on Electoral Reforms, said Jubilee and the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) were in agreement that the Samuel Chepkonga-led National Assembly Committee on Legal Affairs should cease deliberations on the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
CORD had demanded that the committee ceases investigating IEBC commissioners, saying its activities were intended to undermine the joint political efforts on electoral reforms.
“We are in agreement that there is a risk that can be posed by the National Assembly committee,” Kiraitu said. “Supposing the committee was to recommend that it had found nothing wrong with the IEBC? Would it not plunge us into another crisis?” he asked.
