Uhuru launches membership recruitment drive for Jubilee

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday kicked off his August re-election bid by launching a five-million member recruitment drive and tasking over 10,000 Jubilee Party aspirants to lead the recruitment as well as registration of voters.

The Head of State also disbanded a 63-member campaign election team in a desperate attempt to quell claims of bias in JP nominations while asking all those seeking different seats not to “compete bitterly” and to support each other.

The President and his deputy William Ruto took time to urge their supporters countrywide to turn up in large numbers from Monday to register as voters and as members of their new party.

They stressed that the survival of the Jubilee government is hinged on how the unregistered voters in their back yards would respond to the electoral commission’s mass voter registration to be launched on Monday.

The meeting came hot on the heels of a similar opposition meeting convened by Cord leader Raila Odinga in which the creation of new opposition outfit uniting key opposition figures in the country was formalised.

In a bid to get maximum voters registered in the one-month drive, President Kenyatta promised to reward counties, constituencies and wards that will register the most numbers in the party strongholds.

FORGET DIFFERENCES

Speaking at Kasarani Gymnasium, Nairobi, he asked aspirants to forget their differences, saying it was needless to engage in meaningless supremacy battles at the risk of the entire party losing to the opposition in the coming polls.

“Of what help will it be to you if your fight each other so fiercely then you lose and even make all of us to lose?” The President wondered.

He called for unity and urged the aspirants to take time to sell party policies and avoid confrontation with their opponents in a manner that could alter the stability required by the party to survive what is building up to be a tough electoral battle expected in the coming months.

The President said: “We promise free, fair and transparent nominations. The will of the Jubilee membership will determine who will hold what position”.

He said: “I today recognise you as a leader. Today we have no President here, no deputy president, no governor, no MP or MCA we are all here as equals. We are members of a party called Jubilee and we are going out there to register members”.

He expressed anger at the recent opposition convention which he said was turned into a forum to undermine him and his leadership by throwing dirty insults at him.

'I WONDERED'

“While in India I was shocked to see opposition leaders addressing Kenyans from Bomas. I saw them blame my government for underdevelopment and I wondered where this people live,” he said.

He then enumerated key projects by his government insisting that his administration had achieved a lot within the last four years.

The Head of State said that his government had increased the number of dialysis machines from 34 to 174 across the country, from 37 Intensive Care Units to 60 and bought 94 digital X-ray machines allocated to various hospitals.

The President who moved straight from the airport to the venue of the convention, also said that his government had struck a deal with India to construct a modern cancer centre to reduce the number of Kenyans seeking medication in the Asian state.

Earlier, the DP announced that the party was doing away with an initial President Campaign team unveiled at the Bomas of Kenya in November, declaring that all aspirants would now join the new team.

“Every aspirant is to now join presidential campaigns team. And when they go out to ask for their votes, they are also asking for the President’s re-election,” Mr Ruto stated.

ASSURE SUCCESS

Mr Ruto named five points that he said assure Jubilee of its success in the August polls: the collapse of the International Criminal Court cases, the formation of Jubilee Party, delivery of its 2013 manifesto and what he said will be a 2017 campaign based on issues.

But it was his chide at the opposition as “rudderless” that earned him a standing ovation from a wild crowd that forced him to repeat the statement.

“In 2013 our opponents enjoyed the power of incumbency with half the government on their side as one was Prime Minister and the other a Vice-President but in the 2017 elections we are facing a clueless, rudderless, leaderless, disorganised opposition,” the DP said to wild cheers.

Senate Majority Leader Kithure Kindiki sought to explain why the party backed controversial amendments of the Elections Act which the opposition claimed could be used to compromise poll results.

“The launch of this smart card shows that we believe in technology. We must go out and register in large numbers.” He said, adding that aspirants must embrace consensus in fight for seats.

Nyeri Senator Mutahi Kagwe said: “It is not that Jubilee does not want electronic identification and results transmission. We just want to have this as a backup, even if we might not use it”.

National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale said that Jubilee had grown stronger and that it was likely to win an overwhelming victory in the coming polls.