Nairobi — Delegates are streaming to the Ngong Race Course grounds for the Jeremiah Kioni-led Jubilee faction National Delegates Conference (NDC) to be presided over by former President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The Conference comes as a faction led by the former President is putting up a spirited campaign to kick out renegade party members.
A section of Jubilee Party members under the Kanini Kega-led faction have dismissed the planned Conference saying it remains illegal until the wrangles with the party are resolved.
The Jubilee party has been embroiled in leadership wrangles after the Kega led faction made leadership changes which saw Kenyatta ousted as party leader.
Nominated Senator Sabina Chege was nominated as the party leader in an acting capacity while Kega replaced Jeremiah Kioni as Secretary General.
Bomas of Kenya, Kenyatta’s preferred venue, was reported to be unavailable due to what its management termed as scheduled routine maintenance.
“Notice is hereby given that the venue of the Jubilee NDC has been moved to Ngong Racecourse in Nairobi,” Kenyatta who unsuccessfully backed opposition leader Raila Odinga to succeed him announced in a notice dated May 20.
“All other details remain as per the notice published on April 29, 2023.”
The last-minute change of venue despite initial defiance against a letter from Bomas of Kenya came amid a sustained onslaught by the party’s lawmakers having since shifted allegiance to President William Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance-led Kenya Kwanza Alliance.