Biwott party applies for full registration

Two political parties have applied for full registration in conformity with the Political Parties Act.

Prof Julia Ojiambo’s Labour Party of Kenya and former Cabinet minister Nicholas Biwott’s National Vision Party brought to four the number of parties which have filed application for full registration ahead of the April 30 deadline.

Acting Registrar of Political Parties Lucy Ndung’u warned parties that do not meet the deadline would stand dissolved.

“Political parties which will not have complied by April 30 will stand dissolved,” Ms Ndung’u said.

There are about 60 political parties in the country and all have to comply with the Act for full registration to participate in elections.

LPK and NVP join Gichugu MP Martha Karua’s Narc-Kenya and the Patriotic Party of Kenya as the only parties that have applied for compliance certificates.

On Tuesday, Mr Biwott presented a list of 1,000 NVP members from 25 counties, two copies of the party constitution including rules, list of executive committee officials and original certificate of NVP, among other documents to Ms Ndung’u for verification if the outfit had met the law requirements.

“We are happy with the software the registrar of political parties introduced for the parties to register as it is effective. We are also happy with the way staff is handling verification of members to ensure we have complied with Political Parties Act,” Mr Biwott said at Ms Ndung’u office at Anniversary Towers in Nairobi where he was accompanied by NVP officials.

According to Ms Ndung’u, a computer program has been created to identify people who have registered for more than one party and will effectively bar them from participating in party elections.

Mr Biwott said his party had registered members all over the country and that it "will continue with the recruitment as provided in the law".

Ms Ndung’us said her office will take 30 days to scrutinise list of members and governing council filed by NVP and visit half of the counties offices to confirm if they existed.

“It is after the verification that we shall issue full certificate within 30 days, if satisfied,” Ms Ndung’u said.

Prof Ojiambo LPK's became the fourth party to apply for full registration by stating the location of its headquarters, at least half of the county offices, presenting signed code of conduct and policies and its manifesto.

The Political Parties Act and the Elections Act confine voters to just one party. And only card-carrying members will be allowed to participate in party nominations.

Every political party is required to register its members and submit the names to the Registrar of Political Parties for inspection and Ms Ndung’u said the deadline will not be extended.

And subsection (5) states: "A person who, while being a member of a political party forms another political party, joins in the formation of another party, joins another party, in anyway or manner publicly advocates for the formation of another political party or promotes the ideology, interests or policies of another political party, shall be deemed to have resigned from the previous political party."

The Act stipulates that a party must have at least 1,000 members in more than half of the counties and this has to take cognisance of gender, age and regional balance. Similarly, the parties are required to establish branches in more than half the counties, complete with offices, physical address and office bearers.

The law also prohibits one from being a member of more than one party and puts emphasis on values and ethics.