Deputy President William Ruto should be cautious on his role in the Jubilee Party elections, should they be held, former ODM Executive Director Magerer Lang'at has warned.
Constitutionally, Jubilee should be holding the elections by March 2020, though no major announcement about the dates for the exercise has been made by the party leadership yet.
But Lang'at says that should they be held, the DP should limit his involvement in the polls, failure to which he might end up offending some members, leading to a walkout.
According to Lang'at, while such exercises are normally used by party bosses to reward their allies, to control the party's direction, he should be careful to avoid showing his interest.
"When the party interest supersedes individual interests then you would expect that party loyalists to get rewarded but if there are other issues, which is normally the situation, then you will also get cronies taking important positions for purposes of controlling elections and the direction of the party,” he told the Star in an interview on Friday.
He advised that the elections should be used to weed out party members who are no longer loyal and replace them with more vibrant individuals for the benefit of Jubilee.
According to Lang'at, the elections will allow the DP to know who is on his side and who is not, ahead of the 2022 general elections where he is eyeing the presidency.
"Depending on the relationship between him and the President, the election may give an opportunity for some loose ends to become clear. It is good for him so that he can know his friends and gauge his influence," he added.
Earlier, Party Secretary-General Raphael Tuju said that election arrangements will be announced after the Christmas festivities.
Currently, the party which has also not been holding parliamentary group meetings is operating on an interim office.