Nancy Odindo, a correspondent for Sport.bangjo.co.id.co.ke, boasts more than four years of expertise in reporting on Kenyan politics, current events, and feature stories across both digital and print platforms.

Former President Uhuru Kenyatta is now one step nearer to reclaiming complete authority over the Jubilee Party after an action taken by the party’s chairperson, Nelson Dzuya.

On March 20th, Dzuya agreed to implement alterations approved by the party leadership at a Special National Delegates Convention (SNDC) held in May 2023. Uhuru was present at this convention.

It should be mentioned that Dzuya was aligned with the faction led by Kanini Kega, which aims to assume control of Jubilee from its founding leader, Uhuru.

At the 2023 SNDC, problematic members who were not loyal to the party were expelled, and they also decided to select fresh members for the Jubilee's National Executive Committee (NEC).

Dzuya and his group would subsequently manage to overturn the decision via the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal (PPDT). The tribunal concluded that the SNDC had not been correctly established.

Nevertheless, Uhuru's group challenged the decision made by the PPDT, asserting various points including that the head of the Jubilee Party has the authority to call for gatherings of any party body at will and/or without needing to provide seven days' notice.

In the latest development, Dzuya submitted the approval for the SNDC proceedings to be conducted legally with support from attorney Jackson Awele, backed by Franklin Mwendani, who represents Jubilee's Internal Disputes Resolution Committee (IDRC).

Attorney Omwanza, who formerly represented IDRC, opposed the consent. However, Attorney Awele contended that the conflict between the party and Dzuya had been resolved, making the IDRC's role obsolete as it had fulfilled its obligations.

Awele also highlighted that the IDRC lacked corporate status, raising doubts about its ability to initiate legal actions or be subjected to them.

In the course of the hearing, Omwanza found it challenging to justify how his outdated directives for representing IDRC remained applicable despite the fresh instructions provided to the attorney, M Wendani.

"The appellant represents a political organization supported by public funding. It would be prudent to utilize these resources effectively for the management of the party rather than squandering them on internal disputes among leaders. Therefore, it serves the public good for this appeal to be settled according to the conditions outlined in the agreement from March 10, 2025," stated Awele.

Thanks to this latest development, Uhuru is close to gaining complete command over the party as new National Executive Committee (NEC) members await the court’s decision regarding the appeal scheduled for May 15, 2025.

More to follow...