ODM leader Raila Odinga on Friday, September 3, received a group of defectors from the Jubilee Party at a time the ruling party is in talks to seal a partnership deal with the opposition party ahead of the crucial 2022 election.
The ODM party in a Tweet said the defectors drawn from seven counties were received and issued with life membership certificates.
“It was a good day in the office today for party leader as he issued Life Membership Certificates to new members of the party as well as interacting with defectors to the party who joined the movement and be part of the journey up a prosperous Kenya,” the party said.
This makes the latest group of leaders to defect from the ruling outfit following the party’s poor performance in several by-elections.
It is no doubt that the Jubilee party has been losing its players to rival parties including the recently revamped United Democratic Alliance (UDA), an outfit heavily linked to Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto.
This comes barely two months after Nyeri Town Member of Parliament Ngunjiri Wambugu warned that the Jubilee party could lose more valuable players if urgent measures to salvage the ‘collapsing’ party are not instituted.
“For those of us who still believe in Jubilee, this is a lesson and a warning. Let us focus on what is important, as we fix this party. Then we will stop the loss of more valuable players,” Ngunjiri said.
Two weeks ago, President Uhuru Kenyatta-led party made official their plans to enter into a coalition deal with Raila Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement party.
Jubilee’s Secretary General Raphael Tuju announced that the Jubilee party’s National Management Committee (NMC) had permitted the party secretariat to formally engage with ODM and draw the coalition deal.
The coalition, he said, is meant to strengthen the March 2018 handshake between President Uhuru and Raila Odinga.
