Senators Sakaja, Murkomen And Anwar Oloitiptip to be Kicked Out of Jubilee

Nairobi Senator John Sakaja, his Elgeyo Marakwet counterpart Kipchumba Murkomen and Lamu’s Anwar Oloitiptip now risk being kicked out of the ruling Jubilee party.

The party’s Vice Chairman David Murathe on Monday August 3, 2020 issued a warning to the lawmakers ahead of crucial Senate vote on county revenue formula.

Murathe’s warning comes after the three senators defied the party position and sank its proposal.

In an interview with the Standard, Murathe said that Jubilee party will take a disciplinary action against Sakaja and his colleagues for conspiring with fellow senators under the “One Kenya Movement” banner to shoot down the Senate Finance and Budgets Committee report.

“We are not yet done, we will deal with the senators for going against the party position. They will have themselves to blame for their parochial decisions. We will kick them out of the party. Read our party constitution, it gives room to deal with them,” he said.

Murathe said whereas the other Jubilee senators from the affected counties had their grievances against the formula, Sakaja, Murkomen and Oloititip acted defiantly and maliciously given that they had no credible grievance.

Sakaja and Murkomen led a group of seven senators from the counties that were gaining in the formula arrangement to oppose the vote, claiming they were doing so in solidarity with the devolved units that were losing.

Others were Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala, Makueni’s Mutula Kilonzo Jnr, Sam Ongeri (Kisii), Philip Mpaayei (Kajiado) and Boniface Kabaka (Machakos). 

In the formula, 18 counties saw their allocation reduced from what they were receiving in the second generation formula, a matter that raised opposition.Sakaja is a former Uhuru’s TNA party chairman.

He said there was no party position on the matter, and that a party position would only be arrived at if members of a caucus debate an issue and agrees or disagrees but moves on with collective responsibility.

Yesterday, Sakaja woke up to banners displayed in strategic places branding him a traitor. On Twitter, a betrayal hashtag carrying his name was trending.

The senator, however, played it down, asking his followers to help “the keyboard warriors to earn their bread”.