Former President Uhuru Kenyatta has issued a warning to Jubilee Party members who have resorted to attacking other leaders.
Speaking on Friday, November 7, Uhuru discouraged the behaviour, noting that political disagreements should never lead to personal insults.
"Let's stop insulting other leaders. Even if you do not like them, there is no need for insults. Respect is the only sustainable value," he said.
Uhuru went on to express frustration with Jubilee Secretary General Jeremiah Kioni, who has, on different occasions, attacked former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
He stated that he doesn't want to be associated with the insults, warning that those engaging in them will be chased away from the party.
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"Sometimes I get angry when I see leaders who claim to be fighting for the Jubilee Party but do so by insulting others. I'll tell you, Kioni, these stories I see online, people claiming to be in Jubilee insulting others, including Gachagua, I don't want to be part of that. If I see someone doing this, I will have them chased out of Jubilee," he added.
Earlier in the year, Kioni seemed to disapprove of Gachagua's style of politics.
In June, Gachagua had been traversing the Mt Kenya region, decampaigning President William Ruto while insisting that the region's numerical strength is enough to send Ruto out of office in 2027.
The former DP argued that Mt Kenya has close to ten million votes, which, if mobilised well, the region alone will unseat the president.
However, Kioni discouraged such a kind of talk, saying it was portraying Mt Kenya as a commanding region against other parts of the country.
He argued that profiling Mt Kenya as the only strong region politically could pit it against other regions, hence stifling national unity.
Kioni suggested that lamping Mt Kenya as a voting bloc is akin to ethnic mobilisation, adding that all parts of the country ought to come together without looking down on each other in the mission to unseat Ruto.
"The entitlement of my kinsmen will be this country’s undoing. It cannot always be your way or the highway. Whether we know it or not, this narrative is breeding resentment, stifling unity, and choking our national fabric. We must break free from ethnic politics before it breaks us," he said.
Months earlier, Kioni had challenged Gachagua to substantiate his claims regarding abductions that had been happening in the country.
In a statement dated Thursday, January 2, the Jubilee SG called on the former DP to make public all information he knew about the abductions.
Kioni opined that Gachagua was trivialising the abductions, yet it was a sensitive matter, cautioning that such a move would erode public trust among Kenyans even as families wait for their relatives to be released.
"His statements about revealing those involved, without following through with actionable disclosures, are both irresponsible and a slap in the face to the families suffering from these tragedies.
"This is not a game, nor a platform for empty rhetoric. Either he provides the nation with concrete information or refrains from making misleading statements," read part of the statement.
