The Political Parties Disputes Tribunal has made a major decision that has left the Jubilee Party reeling. In a ruling that has shocked many within the party, the tribunal nullified the appointment of Moitalel Ole Kenta as the party’s Secretary-General. The reasons given for this decision are quite significant Kenta was simply not registered as a member of Jubilee when the party decided to give him the job in the first place.
This whole issue started when former Nyeri Town Member of Parliament Ngunjiri Wambugu decided to challenge the way the party went about making changes to its leadership. Wambugu argued that the Jubilee leadership team had rushed through their decisions without properly listening to his concerns. He said that the new officials were approved before he had even been given a fair chance to voice his objections. The tribunal took his case seriously, treating it as an urgent matter that needed to be heard without delay.
The appointment of Kenta had happened back in January this year. He came in to replace Jeremiah Kioni, who moved into the position of Second Deputy Party Leader. At that time, Jubilee said the move was part of their plan to rebuild the party from the grassroots level. They wanted to prepare themselves properly for the 2027 general elections, which are now less than a year away. Nobody expected at that time that this decision would end up in court.
When the Registrar of Political Parties approved the new Jubilee leadership in May, Wambugu decided he had had enough. He went straight to the tribunal, arguing that he had not been given the proper chance to present his side of the story. The tribunal agreed with him and certified his case as urgent, meaning it needed to be heard quickly. Various big names in Jubilee found themselves caught up in this dispute, including National Party Chairperson Vincent Kemosi, Deputy Party Leader Fred Matiang’i, and other senior officials.
The tribunal’s ruling now means that everything Kenta has done in his role is no longer valid. More than that, Jubilee will now have to go back and think about who should really be their Secretary-General. This is yet another headache for the party, which has been struggling to stay united. Just two weeks before this ruling, Jubilee saw a number of its officials leave the party and join the Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) instead. Some people saw this as a sign that the party was falling apart.
Deputy Party Leader Matiang’i tried to downplay the defections at the time, saying that those who left had actually been suspended from the party months earlier because they had misbehaved and interfered with party business. But many saw the exodus as a real blow to Jubilee’s plans to get strong again before the next election. Now, with this tribunal ruling invalidating the Secretary-General appointment, the party faces yet more uncertainty about its direction and leadership.
For a political party trying to organize itself ahead of a major election, this kind of disruption is the last thing they need. Jubilee now has to deal with internal court battles, key people leaving, and the embarrassment of having one of its top appointments struck down. The tribunal’s decision sends a clear message even political parties have to follow the rules properly, and they cannot just appoint people to important positions without checking that those people are actually registered as party members in the first place.
