Uhuru Goes After Ruto Over Stolen Data

President Uhuru Kenyatta (left) greets his deputy William Ruto (right) during the Jamhuri Day celebrations at Uhuru Gardens, Nairobi on Sunday, December 12, 2021
Former President Uhuru Kenyatta (left) greets President William Ruto (right) during the Jamhuri Day celebrations at Uhuru Gardens, Nairobi on Sunday, December 12, 2021
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President Uhuru Kenyatta's Jubilee Party has accused the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) of manipulating its membership data. Jubilee thus wants, UDA, led by Deputy President William Ruto be de-registered and expunged. 

Uhuru's party claimed that UDA is using unlawful data to hoodwink Kenyans into believing that it is the most popular party in the country. 

Jubilee approached the Registrar of Political Parties Anne Nderitu to expunge UDA over breaching its databases and taking up to two million of its membership data.

Reports also indicated that Jubilee wants Nderitu to conduct an audit of UDA's membership.

Registrar of Political Parties Anne Nderitu
Registrar of Political Parties Anne Nderitu
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Jubilee deputy secretary general and Cherang’any MP Joshua Kutuny revealed that some of the officials at Jubilee Party headquarters who were feeding UDA with data were relieved of their duties. 

He also disclosed that Jubilee Party had embarked on an audit to establish the exact number of members UDA took with the assistance of rogue officials.

“We are dealing with crooks. They did not build any data. What they are using was lifted from the Jubilee Centre. One of the reasons some of the coordinators were affected in the staff changes recently is because of feeding UDA with our data,” Cherang’any remarked.

But UDA secretary general Veronica Maina dismissed the allegations by Jubille which she termed as malicious and also dared the ruling party to provide facts.

“Those are malicious and unfounded allegations. Kindly direct those questions to the Jubilee Party itself and the ORPP. They (Jubilee) better have their facts right; this is so wrong,” she was quoted by the Nation.

Notably, Registrar of Political Parties Anne Nderitu admitted that she was aware of concerns raised by her office that they had been registered with political parties without their consent.

“It is true there are concerns people finding themselves in the register of parties they have not consented to. This is why we are asking Kenyans to resign from those parties on e-citizen,” Nderitu stated.

In February 2021, Nderitu met secretary generals of various political parties to issue guidelines on compliance and party membership registration. 

The SGs lauded her continued effort in regulating parties and efforts geared towards publicising the party membership register through the E-citizen platform. 

Law Society of Kenya President Nelson Havi (left) and UDA Secretary General Veronica Maina (right)  at the press conference on Monday, December 20, 2021
Law Society of Kenya President Nelson Havi (left) and UDA Secretary General Veronica Maina (right) at the press conference on Monday, December 20, 2021
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Meanwhile, President Uhuru Kenyatta, who will remain Jubilee’s party leader after the August 9 polls, noted that he was ready to hit the campaign trail to rebuild Jubilee. 

Uhuru spoke during Jubilee’s Parliamentary Group meeting held at State House on Friday, February 4. He was quoted to have stated that in 2002, he only campaigned for nearly 2 months but managed to get a sizable number of MPs and formed the opposition.

Kutangulia si kufika. Those that claim we are late should know that we have been in this game before.  This might be a marathon for some of them but for us, we see it as a sprint,” Uhuru reportedly told Jubilee MPs. 

Part of the Jubilee rebrand will also entail replacing Ruto as Jubilee deputy party leader

“The law mandates anyone seeking election through a party to join the said party by March 26, meaning that they must resign. We will replace them and rebuild Jubilee,” Kieni MP Kanini Kega stated, reiterating that Ruto had almost 50 days to resign as Uhuru’s deputy in Jubilee.

President Uhuru Kenyatta (left), Jubilee Secretary General Raphael Tuju (centre) and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga (right) at State House, Nairobi on Thursday, January 13, 2022
Former President Uhuru Kenyatta (left), Jubilee Secretary General Raphael Tuju (centre) and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga (right) at State House, Nairobi on Thursday, January 13, 2022
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