A group of leaders from Mandera County have said they will not agree to negotiated democracy in which some of them are asking for direct nominations for the August elections.
The leaders led by Mandera Governor Ali Roba said the leaders under the leadership of Hassan Noor Hassan have threatened to leave the Jubilee Party unless they are given direct nominations.
Governor Roba however challenged the opposing group to face them in the primaries if they have the numbers, saying those few individuals have sensed defeat in the nominations.
Roba said they did not go to the presidency to request for the favour to be considered, but they are only seeking the support of the residents.
“We challenge our would-be opponents to come on board and go for party primaries with us. We will support them if they defeat us and we will not move to any other party,” he said.
“If you know you have 90 per cent of the support as you claim on camera in Nairobi, you should not even worry about party primaries because you have the support on the ground. Why should you fear nominations?” he said.
The governor aspirant Noor Hassan, his running mate Abass Maalim and Senate hopeful Hassan Osman had warned the Jubilee Party leadership to recognise their line up for elective seats, the line-up which was selected through negotiated democracy.
“We challenge them to prove us wrong through the nominations and stop intimidating the political party and dragging names of respectable individuals like the president, his deputy and institutions like the National Intelligence Service and others in trying to say the intelligence given about the support on the ground,” the governor added.