Africa-Press – Kenya. Jubilee Party Secretary-General Raphael Tuju on Wednesday, July 21, responded to media reports indicating that the coalition talks between the ruling party and the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) had been suspended.
Media reports had alleged that the Jubilee Party had suspended the talks in order to focus on its own revamp.
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke, Tuju disputed the allegations affirming that he had not caught wind of the information.
“No, I’ve not heard of such reports,” Tuju pointed out.
The Secretary-General had initially affirmed that the two parties were in discussions in order to formalise their alliance.
“We (Jubilee) want to have active engagement with ODM as we head towards 2022 elections in terms of coming up with an alliance which is in the cards,” Tuju stated at a past interview.
Further, he had affirmed that a committee had been formulated in order to ensure the framework of the coalition.
This comprised of Tuju and Jubilee Vice-Chairperson David Murathe- who represented the ruling party whereas ODM was represented by Chairman John Mbadi and Secretary-General Edwin Sifuna.
The news comes as Jubilee was recently dealt a huge blow after the loss in the Kiambaa by-elections which saw the United Democratic Alliance(UDA) secure a victory with a margin of 500 votes.
UDA’s John Njuguna Wanjiku won with 21,773 votes against Jubilee’s Kariri Njama who garnered 21,263 votes.
This led to the party heads disputing how the elections were conducted and demanding a recount of the votes
“We are happy to take the flack and responsibility where we have fallen short of expectations… We think we gave it our best shot and I think we actually won that is the message that you are getting from this group,” Murathe stated.
