MPs allied to Deputy President William Ruto have made a U-turn on an earlier decision to stop making monthly contributions to the Jubilee Party. In a meeting at the DP’s residence in Karen last year December, Tanga Tanga MPs who have rebelled against the leadership of Jubilee vowed to cut their monthly pay to the outfit which sponsored them to Parliament in 2017.
”There were further instructions to continue contributing the whole amount to Jubilee and also to welfare. A majority of them has done it (rescinded earlier communication), they are continuing to contribute to Jubilee as well as their welfare group,” National Assembly Clerk Michael Sialai told a local publication on Friday.
According to the ruling party’s constitution, Governors, senators, and MPs pay a Sh10,000 subscription fee which amounts to about Sh2 million monthly. About 100MPs had written a letter to the National Assembly Clerk to stop their monthly deductions sent to Jubilee Party.
Speaking on Thursday, Jubilee Party Secretary-General Raphael Tuju said, the monthly subscription fee is mandatory and it was the only proof that one was still a Jubilee Party member. He laughed off Tanga Tanga MPs who had earlier threatened to withdraw their subscriptions, saying it was political suicide.
”According to the Political Parties Act, paying subscription is one of the things that shows that you are a member. It is very symbolic with the support to the party, when you withdraw support to the party which took you to Parliament you are walking in a very slippery legal ground. If somebody advised them otherwise and they changed their mind then they are well-advised,” Tuju said.
