Raphael Tuju, a former Cabinet minister and long-time ally of retired President Uhuru Kenyatta, has formally resigned from Jubilee Party, closing a chapter in his turbulent yet influential career within Kenya’s ruling circles.

In a letter to Mr. Kenyatta, the party’s leader, Mr. Tuju said the time had come to step aside, citing Jubilee’s new political trajectory. He recalled recent internal meetings, including one chaired by the former president, that convinced him the party was moving in a direction where he no longer had a role to play.

“At the present time, I see no more value that I can add to the Jubilee Party. I therefore tender my resignation,” Mr. Tuju wrote. Still, he added, he respected the path the party had chosen.

A bold appointment

Mr. Tuju served as Jubilee’s Secretary General between 2016 and 2022, a period that saw the party rise to power, fracture, and eventually decline. In his letter, he expressed gratitude to Mr. Kenyatta for appointing him to a position traditionally reserved for insiders from the ruling coalitions.

“It was an exceptionally bold political step on your part to have entrusted this sensitive position to me as a person coming from the Luo community, while the anchor of the party was essentially the Kikuyu and Kalenjin communities,” he wrote.

A one-time presidential aspirant himself, Mr. Tuju became a key face of Jubilee during its five-year tenure, particularly through the 2018 “handshake” truce between Mr. Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga.

New flagbearer, shifting alliances

His departure comes as Jubilee positions itself for the 2027 presidential race. Party officials have thrown their support behind former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, casting him as the strongest challenger to President William Ruto.

“We are looking for a person who can unify the country,” Jubilee Secretary General Jeremiah Kioni said in January. “We are looking at a bully in the name of William — who is this person that can look William in the eye and tell him off? That person is Fred Matiang’i.”

By backing a candidate from outside its Mount Kenya base — where it won 28 parliamentary seats in the 2022 election — the party signalled its intention to return to its founding promise of transcending ethnic politics.

A wider realignment

Mr. Tuju’s resignation also underscores broader political realignments. Mr. Odinga’s ODM has recently worked with Mr. Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance under what both sides have called a “broad-based coalition.”

Even as he stepped away, Mr. Tuju reiterated Jubilee’s founding values. He said Kenya’s greatest challenges remain unemployment, poverty and inequality — not political rivals.

His exit marks the end of an era for one of Jubilee’s most visible figures, even as the party looks to reinvent itself under new leadership and shifting alliances.