Jubilee Party Threatens to Break Uhuru-Raila Handshake Deal

Jubilee secretary-general Raphael Tuju says the party could be forced to 'kill' the famous March 9th handshake between President Kenyatta and Opposition leader Raila Odinga.

Tuju, who spoke to Daily Nation on Tuesday, threatened that the party could be forced to cancel the deal if the Opposition insist that the Constitution must be changed for the handshake to succeed.

He said the ruling party will not allow itself be held hostage and will not hesitate to break it if it was meant to distract President Kenyatta from delivering on his big four agenda for the country.

"We have had handshakes before. In 2008, Raila and Mwai Kibaki shook hands; but did that reduce the rate of unemployment? No.

"The debate we should be having now is how to create jobs for the youth, and nowhere does that discussion include the structure of the Executive," he said.

Tuju further noted that it would take the country more than four years to conduct a constitutional referendum, which would mean putting development agenda aside.

" It will take a year to reconstitute the crippled electoral commission, another year for the new team to settle down and address issues in the secretariat, one year for a national dialogue on the referendum question, and another for campaigns," he said.

“If we are going to conduct a referendum that will take that long, when will we deliver the Big Four?” asked Mr Tuju.