KIVUTI IN TROUBLE FOR ALLEGEDLY FORGING JUBILEE PARTY RUBBER STAMP AND SIGNATURES

Aspirants' attention at the JP meeting was momentarily drawn away when the fake list hit the social media. The writer of this article (back,left) was present

In the aftermath of the recent Jubilee Party’s election of interim officials all across the country, a storm of a scandal seems to be brewing for Embu Senator and gubernatorial aspirant Lenny Kivuti. If the allegations leveled against the politician in the political grapevine are proven beyond reasonable doubt, the Senator, said to be filthy rich, may find himself answerable to charges of being behind the forgery of Jubilee Party’s rubber stamp.

Stamp and signature used on the second list

On 13th December, 2016 when the elections were held in Embu, Mr. Kivuti is said to have sponsored a large number of ‘fake’ sympathetic aspirants with the aim of getting them to be part of the interim committee, a plan that was thwarted by vigilant Intel. Upon realizing that his scheme had been uncovered, the tycoon is said to have boycotted the exercise. Elections however were peacefully conducted, whereby gubernatorial aspirants Cecily Mbarire and incumbent Governor Martin Wambora, together with Manyatta MP John Muchiri among other leaders showed a high level of political maturity by agreeing with each other for the sake of the unity of Embu county. The leaders unanimously agreed on an all inclusive formula of 5-5-5-4 whereby three constituencies produced five committee members each while the fourth constituency gave four, totaling up to nineteen as required.

The Senator however, rumored to have been involved in some other shady deals in Rwanda a few years ago, disputed the election’s outcome and vowed not to recognize the committee as authentic. To this end, while the committee met with aspirants for various leadership positions under the JP ticket on 11th January 2017, another list with different names for committee members hit the social media platforms. The said list, comprising of nineteen members, had thirteen names of persons well known to be ardent supporters of Mr. Kivuti. The other six persons in the list were duly elected members of the real committee. What baffled all and sundry is that this ‘counterfeit‘ list was complete with a Jubilee Party stamp that appeared rather genuine. When the matter was brought before the leaders at the meeting, they vehemently denied the second list, assuring the attendees that the only committee recognized at Party Headquarters was the one sitting in that meeting.

The first and original list of elected committee members

One Senatorial aspirant, Mr. Ruku assured the perturbed leaders that they will see to it that JP acknowledges the real committee, and in writing.

The second list that hit social media, complete with JP logo, stamp and signature

What added weight to the suspicion that the fake list had emanated from Mr. Kivuti is that during the same meeting, some people, also known to be of the Senator’s camp arrived with the intention of disrupting the meeting but were quickly overpowered and sent away. Thank goodness that the incumbent Governor Martin Wambora was in attendance with his security detail thus security was tight around the venue; Owoods Annex Lodge. The event, which was well covered by local media houses ended peacefully with the leaders coming to a consensus that they will apply the same criteria they had used on the previous election, to determine those who will join the committee at Ward level.

Investigations were also launched to prove the authenticity of the second list and whether the rubber stamp and signatures used to make the document look official were genuine. This signals desperation from the candidate and political Parties should not allow their offices to be maligned by people with ulterior motives.