Courts to determine fate of party hoppers

The Registrar of Political Parties has said only courts can determine the fate of some 100 MPs who have ditched the parties that took them to Parliament.

RPP Lucy Ndung’u Monday said it was difficult for her office to crack the whip on the politicians especially since none of them had said in writing that they had left the party on whose ticket they were elected.

She wants the High Court to quickly determine a case filed by a group of activists who sued her office demanding that she declares the MPs’ seats vacant.

Two weeks ago, the Friends of Raila (Fora) submitted that the MPs should be deemed to have decamped to other parties.

Under Section 14 of the Political Parties Act 2011, a member of a party is supposed to write to the party leader, county assembly speaker or speaker of the National Assembly (if he is an MP) to inform them of his decision to leave the party.

However, according to Article 103 of the Constitution, one can also be “deemed” to have resigned from the party through their actions such as campaigning or supporting ideologies of another party.

Speaking at a forum on peace with representatives of political parties in Nairobi, Ms Ndung’u maintained that there is no clear instruction on who should “deem” a politician to have decamped.

“The deeming action should be spelled out and there should be a clear indication as to who should deem,” she said.

“Is it the party which recruits others and who should throw them out of the party? Is it the Speaker who should deem or is it IEBC or the Registrar of Political Parties? The issue is before a court of law and we expect it to be addressed soon.”

Party hopping has been on the increase ahead of the General Election expected in March next year. If the seats are declared vacant, then Kenya might be forced into a mini-election.

Among the MPs who have moved from their mother parties include Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi who said he had joined United Democratic Front from ODM and his colleague Uhuru Kenyatta who announced a new party the National Alliance, away from Kanu which took him to Parliament.

Others are Eldoret North MP William Ruto who has decamped from ODM to the United Republican Party and Justice minister Eugene Wamalwa who announced he had left Ford Kenya for New Ford Kenya.

A few weeks ago, the IEBC under which the Registrar’s office lies warned it would call for by elections in the affected constituencies.

At the same time, Mr Wamalwa maintained that elections would be held in March unless an appeal before the court reverses an earlier ruling on the same.

Representatives of political parties had taken him to task to explain why Parliament should extend into the New Year. “

The ruling made by the High Court was not cast in stone, if the appeal reverses it then we would work with it,” he said.