President Uhuru Kenyatta has said Jubilee were hit by an unexpected turnout of voters in the party primaries on Friday, and this inevitably led to the confusion that marred the nominations in the Counties. Speaking during a press briefing at State House, Nairobi, President Uhuru Kenyatta said the number of voters exceeded their perceived target, “Primaries usually don’t experience the kind of turnout we saw yesterday,” he said, “We were hit by a huge shortage of voting material.”
He insisted that the party was not unprepared, but underprepared. “We were doing a primary where ordinarily and that has been the history, turnout usually been between 25% to 30%, yesterday in some places there were up to 70% and 80% turnout.” President Kenyatta said that the polls were cancelled to allow a rescheduled free and fair nomination exercise, where everyone has a chance to vote, with the availability of sufficient voting material, adding that the party also had to cancel the process in areas where the effects were not witnessed. He said that the party has been undertaking the task of ensuring they have enough voting material, “So that every single registered voter from every constituency will have the opportunity to participate in the rescheduled primaries.”
President Kenyatta said a detailed and revised primaries timetable will be issued by the party headquarters in accordance with the IEBC timelines. He insisted that the party will still deliver a fair election, “We assure you that the Jubilee party will deliver on its promise for a transparent, fair ad credible party primaries,” he said.
The President further insisted that only Kenyans have the right to choose who will get the Jubilee ticket. This comes after claims from Uasin Gishu Governor Jackson Mandago that the Deputy President William Ruto favours his gubernatorial rival in the Jubilee ticket race, “I urge you citizens and supporters, please, don’t listen to rumours. And I urge all aspirants not to blame anyone, each one of you has the freedom to vie for any seat you want,” he said, “Let no one emerge and say he represents someone.”