UDA's Tabitha Karanja occupies former Jubilee party offices
Office of Senator Tabitha Karanja now sits where Jubilee party offices were in Nakuru, Milimani estate.
Nakuru for the longest time has been known as the birthplace of the Jubilee party after the coalition of former president Uhuru Kenyatta’s TNA party and President William Ruto’s URP party at the historic Afraha stadium.
One would think that being the birthplace of this party then it would maintain its strong roots within Nakuru.
But this does not seem to be the case as even the former Jubilee Party offices now house the office of Nakuru senator, Tabitha Karanja.
Peter Cheruiyot, a Jubilee party official says that they moved out of the premises on February following a directive from the main offices in Nairobi.
He however noted that they are still looking for a space that will house their new offices.
“Even as you can see in the media, the Jubilee party is going through a difficult period right now but that does not mean the party is down and out. Once we get everything sorted, we will bounce back,” he added.
For many this would sound like a weird plot twist considering that the senator vied and won the seat on the UDA ticket and now occupies the same offices.
The party official says they were not short changed in any way and that they relinquished the keys to the landlord in February and they did not have any control to who the landlord would rent it out to.
Jubilee Party has been a major player in Nakuru politics but it seems that the once strong political party in now just a former shell of itself.
One could say that it may be heading the same direction as KANU which was a major political player back in the 90s.
Even in the last elections Jubilee only managed to clinch two political seats in the entire county with the election of Nakuru Town West M.P. Samuel Arama and Bahati M.P. Irene Njoki, with United Democratic Party taking most of the seats, in what was termed as the ‘yellow wave’.