This archive report was first published on 22 April 2020.
Published on April 22, 2020, Deputy President William Ruto is facing a daunting dilemma in his bid to maintain control of the Jubilee Party.
The power struggle within the party has reached a boiling point, with Ruto's allies and opponents locked in a bitter dispute over the party's leadership.
At the center of the controversy is the National Management Committee, which Ruto claims was illegitimately altered by Jubilee Secretary-General Raphael Tuju and Vice-Chairman David Murathe.
“Anyone who is uncomfortable in Jubilee should just quit. We are not going to leave. We have invested so much in this party economically, emotionally; we have given it our all. Those that think they can push us out are in for a rude shock,” Belgut MP Nelson Koech, a close ally of the DP, told the Nation.
With the party's 2022 presidential elections looming, Ruto is caught between his loyalty to President Uhuru Kenyatta and his own ambitions to succeed him.
“We are really just waiting for the Covid-19 pandemic to be addressed, and we will forcefully eject Tuju and Murathe, that is if they will not have quit by then,” said Mr Koech.
As the power struggle intensifies, Ruto's allies are warning that they will no longer tolerate the party's leadership being dictated by President Kenyatta's allies.
“We will no longer turn the other cheek. We have decided that we will see them eye to eye. Let them walk out. We are the majority and are not going anywhere. We are the owners of the party. They should leave if they want,” Gatundu South Moses Kuria said last week.
