Lobby urges crackdown on parties over registration fraud

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) is calling for the immediate de-registration of political parties that have registered members fraudulently.

It expressed concerns that thousands of Kenyans may have been registered as members of political partiers without their consent.

“The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights therefore calls for an audit of and sanctions against political parties that have been found to have registered members by use of fraudulent methods,’ said acting KNCHR chairman, Samuel Tororey.

“Specifically, the KNCHR calls for their immediate de-registration and subsequent announcement of the same to members of the public to avoid further election gerrymandering."

There has been an outcry from a cross section of Kenyans, especially on social media, that they have been listed as members of certain political parties without their knowledge and consent.

On Wednesday, the Registrar of Political Parties Lucy Ndung’u said it is an offence punishable by law for any political party to register a member without his or her knowledge. Any party doing so could be de-registered and penalised.

She asked political parties which may have registered members without their consent or falsified information to remedy the breach immediately or be de-registered and fined not less than Sh1 million.

On Thursday, the KNHCR expressed fears that should the registration fraud go unpunished, Kenyans would experience greater anomalies during the coming elections.

“Our fear and worry is that should the trend be ignored and the registration fraud goes unpunished, Kenyans stand to experience greater anomalies on the altar of impunity during the forthcoming election period, when it will be too late to turn the clock,” said Dr Tororey..

But a group of civil society groups demanded that Ms Ndung’u resigns for failing to protect the Constitution by refusing to register parties that flouted the law by registering members fraudulently.

“We call on Ms Nduing’u to resign immediately by having demonstrated gross incompetence that has facilitated the said violations of the rights of Kenyans,” the groups said in a statement signed by activist Okiya Omtata.

He also demanded that police immediately investigate the matters and take action against party officials found guilty of forging the signatures of persons for purposes of registering them in their parties.

Dr Tororey, on his part, said that the commission had carried out an internal investigation and discovered that eleven members of its staff and their family members had been registered as members of some political parties without their consent.

“While this might seem like a drop in the ocean, the commission is concerned about the practice which indicates fraudulent means that political parties used to have their parties registered,” he stated..

He asked Kenyans to take action by checking online the status of their registration on the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission website and send any evidence of irregular registrations to the registrar’s office or file the same with the Commission for forwarding to the registrar’s office.