U-turn? Ruto’s UDA seeks peace with Jubilee in new development
Just days after President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party made good its threat to sever ties with Deputy President William Ruto's United Democratic Alliance (UDA), the latter has now told legislators holding office courtesy of the coalition deal to stay put until the matter is resolved.
In a letter to the Registrar of Political Parties Alice Nderitu, dated April 22, Ruto's UDA through secretary general Veronica Maina said the party will undertake appropriate arbitration process in a bid to resolve the dispute within its coalition partners.
In the letter, Maina also said the party had acknowledged existence of a dispute following the letter by the Jubilee seeking to terminate the partial coalition agreement entered in May 2018.
Coalition agreement
“Meantime, all parliamentarians holding office pursuant to the coalition agreement and in particular, Deputy Majority Leader of the Senate, Fatuma Dullo, should continue holding office until such a time as the disputes arbitration panel shall determine the fate of the coalition,” the letter.
“The relevant organs of the coalition parties shall undertake appropriate arbitration processes in a bid to resolve the dispute and update you the outcome thereof,” the letter adds.
In the run up to 2017 elections, Jubilee had entered an arrangement of cooperation with the Party for Development and Reforms (PDR) in the counties of West Pokot, Wajir, Isiolo, Garissa and Mandera where President Uhuru Kenyatta led- party had experienced “the challenge of clan guided democracy”.
However, the cooperation did not include any other county out of the specifically mentioned counties.
Under the requirements of the Political Parties (Registration) Regulations 2019 and the Political Parties Act at schedule 3 (3), members of the coalition were to file among other things:- deposit a formally signed agreement, coalition nomination rules and election rules, organs and their functions as well as provisions for dissolution and dispute resolution.
But despite the agreement, on Tuesday, the Jubilee Party National Management Committee said after considering the prevailing political and legal hurdles facing the proposed coalition, it had found it improper and untenable to complete the formulation of the coalition.
Jubilee insists it signed a pre-election pact with PDR, which was rebranded to UDA, and is therefore, considered, UDA, a new entity.
