As the Jubilee party braces for its primaries across the country on Friday, several aspirants eyeing the party ticket have come out to urge the election board to conduct a free and fair exercise.
Bungoma County women representative Dr. Reginalda Wanyonyi, in a meeting with party delegates in Naitiri, called for a free and fair nomination exercise and urged party members to turn up in large numbers to vote for her.
She took the opportunity to clarify that the smart card which was initially set to be used in the nomination exercise will no longer be used but instead the party register, as well as the IEBC register, will be used instead.
However, she called upon the party agents to be keen not to allow members of other parties to disrupt the whole process and also called upon the security details to be on the look out as some other parties may seek to disrupt the process for their own gains.
Her sentiments were echoed by Kimilili MP aspirant Didmus Wekesa Barasa who called upon those seeking the party nomination ticket to be ready to concede defeat and support whoever will have been chosen by the party members.
He said the party election board should ensure a free and fair exercise is achieved saying they are all confident that Jubilee party will eventually come up with a strong candidate that will be able to trounce the incumbent Suleiman Kasuti Murunga who is on a Ford Kenya ticket.
However, Mt Elgon MP aspirant Harry Kimtai has expressed his dissatisfaction with the preparation of the party primaries saying all the aspirants in the County were to hold a consultative meeting with the party county election officials on Tuesday but they failed to turn up.
He said the directive to have the meeting was as per communication from the national secretary general of the party Raphael Tuju saying after assembling they contacted the officials who did not turn up saying they should come out clear on how they intend to carry out the primaries without favour.
The battle for the parliamentary seat nominations will be as follows Kimilili constituency; Didmus Wekesa, Rose Natecho, Joe Khaemba and John Wenyaa. Tongaren constituency; John Chikati and Ben Chekwanda. Mt Elgon constituency; Daniel Namtala, Harry Kimtai, Fred Kapondi, Moss Ndiema, Mokin Tanguny and Evans Chemwotei.