Back Parti du jubilé French Partito Jubilee del Kenya Italian Jubilee Party Dutch Jubilee Party of Kenya Swedish Chama cha Jubilee Swahili
Jubilee Party of Kenya | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta |
| Secretary-General | Jeremiah Ngayu Kioni |
| Founded | 7 September 2016 |
| Merger of | see below |
| Headquarters | State House Road Nairobi[1] |
| Ideology | Conservatism Economic liberalism |
| Political position | Centre-right[2] to right-wing[3] |
| European affiliation | European Conservatives and Reformists Party (regional partner until 2022) |
| Colours | Red |
| Slogan | Mbele Pamoja ("Forward Together") |
| National Assembly | 29 / 349 |
| Senate | 3 / 67 |
| Governors | 1 / 47 |
| Website | |
| jubileeparty | |
The Jubilee Party of Kenya is a major political party in Kenya. It has significantly influenced the country's political landscape since its founding on 8 September 2016. Emerging from a merger of 11 smaller parties, including The National Alliance (TNA) led by then-President Uhuru Kenyatta and the United Republican Party (URP) led by then-Deputy President William Ruto, Jubilee quickly became the ruling party. It secured a strong plurality in Parliament during the 2017 elections, cementing its dominance as Uhuru Kenyatta won re-election as president.
However, internal divisions surfaced soon after the 2017 election. President Kenyatta criticized Deputy President Ruto for "kutangatanga" (loitering around), accusing him of prioritizing political campaigns over his responsibilities. These tensions escalated over time, culminating in Ruto's departure from Jubilee in 2022 to join the United Democratic Alliance (UDA). He used UDA as his political platform, successfully winning the presidency in the August 2022 general elections.
President Kenyatta openly endorsed opposition leader Raila Odinga in the run-up to those elections forming the Azimio la Umoja Coalition between Jubilee and the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM). This unusual alliance failed to secure victory, relegating Jubilee and Azimio to opposition status after UDA's triumph.
As of 2024, Jubilee remains deeply divided, with factions split between supporting the government and maintaining their opposition stance. These divisions reflect the party's broader challenges in redefining its identity and role in Kenya's evolving political landscape.
Rafael Tuju, former Member of Parliament for Rarieda Constituency was the party's first Secretary General.[4] The officials were named during the party's first National Governing Council (NGC) meeting held at the Bomas of Kenya Auditorium, in November 2016. Each of the political parties that merged had elected leaders at different levels of government, as follows:
| Governors | Senators | Women Reps. | MPs. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TNA | 8 | 11 | 14 | 75 |
| APK | 1 | 2 | 5 | |
| URP | 10 | 9 | 10 | 65 |
| GNU | 1 | |||
| NFK | 1 | 2 | 4 | |
| Ford People | 4 | |||
| UDF | 1 | 2 | 12 | |
| CCU | 2 | |||
| Republican Congress | ||||
| JAP | 1 | |||
| TIP | 1 |
- ^ Tongola, Mate. "Jubilee Party changes headquarters from Pangani to Kileleshwa". The Standard. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
- ^ Kim, Eun Kyung; Kim, Hye-Sung (24 August 2021). "The Winning Party Platform: Voter Perceptions of Party Positions and Voting in Urban Africa". Africa Spectrum. 56 (2): 172–193. doi:10.1177/00020397211030934. ISSN 0002-0397. S2CID 237295862.
- ^ Gaitho, Macharia (18 August 2019). "All you need to know about the clash between Kenyatta and Ruto". Al Jazeera.
- ^ PSCU (5 November 2016). "Raphael Tuju to head Jubilee Party secretariat". Daily Nation. Retrieved 15 March 2019.