Tuju: Why I blocked DP Ruto from accessing Jubilee headquarters
By George Brian, March 3, 2022
Two years ago, former Jubilee Party secretary-general Raphael Tuju caused furry in the political field, more so among the Tanga Tanga side of Jubilee, after he banned Deputy President William Ruto from stepping at Jubilee headquarters in Pangani.
At the time, Tuju accused the DP of using the party premises for running his political activities, a move that the party’s NMC was not happy about.
“The DP, a self-declared 2022 presidential candidate, will not be allowed to use the party headquarters as a centre of operationalisation of his campaigns and for intimidation,” Tuju said then.
He said it was no longer tenable for the DP to use the party platform to advance his ‘hustler’ politics.
Tuju’s move to block Ruto from the party headquarters came a day after the Deputy President visited the premises accompanied by a section of MPs allied to him.
Two years after issuing the order, Tuju still maintains his ground noting that he wasn’t comfortable with DP Ruto operating at Pangani headquarters. He said that Ruto’s move to hold his political activities at Pangani was causing friction within the party.
Speaking to Citizen TV, the former CS without portfolio said that Ruto’s activities at the headquarters were not sitting well with some presidential candidates in the Jubilee Party.
“Basically, what he (Ruto) tried to do was to operationalize his presidential campaigns from the Jubilee headquarters and I thought that was not right because even within Jubilee there were people interested in competing for the party’s presidential ticket and some of them had stated so. Eugene Wamalwa, for example, together with a couple of ministers had stated so.
So for him to take advantage of being deputy president and operationalize his campaigns from the headquarters is against the constitution,” Tuju said.