The Jubilee Party has come out in defense of its leader, former President Uhuru Kenyatta, following a political spat over the handling of campaign funds during Raila Odinga’s 2022 presidential bid.
The dispute emerged after ODM Secretary General and Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna and the party’s Director of Elections, Suna East MP Junet Mohamed, exchanged public accusations regarding the alleged misuse of funds.
Sifuna claimed that Junet misappropriated funds donated by Uhuru to support Raila’s campaign, while Junet countered that Uhuru allegedly used his inner circle and family members to embezzle the same funds.
During a press briefing in Nairobi on Tuesday, Jubilee Party described the attacks as dishonest and politically motivated, suggesting they were orchestrated to divert attention from the perceived failures of the current government.
“At no time has our Party Leader, or the Jubilee Party, engaged in any plot to destabilize, ‘buy’, or hijack any political party,” the party stated. “The manufactured attacks on H.E. Uhuru Kenyatta are nothing more than a desperate attempt to create a convenient scapegoat for a government that has lost the confidence of the Kenyan people.”
Jubilee further argued that Uhuru had openly supported Raila’s 2022 campaign and that any sabotage came from within ODM, not from the former president.
“They should stop projecting their betrayal onto Uhuru Kenyatta. Jubilee will not allow our party leader to be dragged into schemes designed to sell out a party that Raila Odinga built over two decades,” the statement added. The party emphasized that the attacks were aimed at stoking ethnic tensions and reviving political divisions.
In response to the controversy, Junet alleged that the funds intended for campaign agents were channeled through Uhuru’s brother, Muhoho Kenyatta, who appointed a man named Peter Mburu to oversee agent recruitment and payments. Junet claimed that Mburu presented himself as an IT expert capable of preventing electoral manipulation, but no agents were ultimately deployed, neither in Mt. Kenya nor in Raila’s stronghold of Luo Nyanza.
Junet also said that Muhoho operated from a highly restricted office in Westlands, so secretive that even Raila could not freely access it, where campaign logistics and payments were allegedly coordinated.
Despite the accusations, Junet rejected claims of disloyalty, asserting that Raila would not have appointed him Leader of Minority in the National Assembly had he lost the former ODM leader’s trust.
Meanwhile, Sifuna accused Junet of retroactively labeling Uhuru’s campaign contributions as “dirty money”, despite benefiting from them at the time.
Jubilee concluded by highlighting its intention to reclaim its position in Kenya’s political future, signaling plans for nationwide membership drives, transparent engagement with political aspirants, and alliances with like-minded parties.
