MPs plot to change law on party hopping

MPs and councillors who have defected to other parties will keep their seats until the General Election if the House passes proposed changes to the elections law.

In a move that is likely to attract overwhelming support in the House, an MP has moved to amend the Political Parties Act to allow politicians to defect to parties other than those that sponsored them without losing their seats.

Gachoka MP Mutava Musyimi wants laws barring MPs from being members of more than one political party suspended until after the General Election.

The PNU politician and presidential hopeful argues that the country is in a difficult transition period that needs to be managed delicately.

“Given the importance of elections and the fact that at least 50 per cent of MPs are involved directly and indirectly in formation of new parties, we need to accept the reality that facing a by-election by half of the MPs in Parliament and local authorities is not the way to go,” he argues.

In his proposal that is being fine-tuned by Parliament’s legal team, Mr Musyimi is pushing for the suspension of sub-sections 4, 5 and 7 of Section 14 of the Political Parties Act that regulate membership of parties.

The sections say that members of a political party will lose their membership – and by extension their seats – if they form, join or participate in the formation of another party.

The law also says members of a party who publicly advocate the formation of another party or promote another party’s ideology, interests or policy would be deemed to have resigned from their previous parties.

Whereas the Musyimi amendment is likely to attract majority support from his colleagues in the House, it could trigger opposition over arguments it would encourage impunity and indiscipline in political parties, set a bad precedent and offend the spirit of the Constitution.

But Mr Musyimi, a Baptist minister, reckons that given the fluidity of Kenya’s politics, ethnic mobilisation and the 2007/8 violence, the provisions are out of tune with reality.

“Whereas this law is good, to apply it during a time of transition is not good for the country. We need these provisions, but not now,” said the Gachoka MP.

The proposals will help settle the country, give room for people to associate and allow “politics space to coalesce,” he said.

“Given the current difficult political situation, we may need to evoke our robust Bill of Rights and create room for enjoyment of freedom of association. There is a need to take away the inability to cross to the next level. People have made up their minds (on where they want to go).”

Presidential hopefuls

The country has recently witnessed a mass movement of politicians as they reposition themselves for the coming elections.

They include Deputy Prime ministers Uhuru Kenyatta, who is on Sunday launching his new vehicle for the State House race, and Musalia Mudavadi, who will seek the top spot on the UDF ticket.

The two have ditched the Kanu and ODM parties on whose tickets they rode to Parliament. Others are Eldoret North MP William Ruto (URP from ODM), Gatanga MP Peter Kenneth (KNC from PNU), The Rev Musyimi (DP from PNU), Imenti South MP Kiraitu Murungi (Alliance Party from PNU).

But ODM’s Raila Odinga, PNU’s George Saitoti and Narc-Kenya leader Martha Karua have indicated that they will stick with their parties.

The Friends of Raila lobby group has moved to court seeking to have the seats of MPs associating with other parties to be declared vacant.

The Rev Musyimi intends to push his amendments through the Miscellaneous Amendment Bill expected back in the House on Tuesday. The Bill is used to update statutes to remove anomalies and regularise them in line with the conditions of the day.

However, it has in the past been used by the government and MPs to sneak in self-serving amendments.

The Gachoka MP has also proposed another amendment to the Elections Act that would secure MPs’ seats in their parties until two months to the election.

The Elections Act 2011 declares that for one to contest elections using a particular party for the expected March 4 poll, he or she should be a fully registered member of that party by October this year.

Section 13 of the Act says that a political party shall nominate its candidates for an election at least 45 days before a general election.

According to the electoral commission, with the polls scheduled for March 4, the party nominations should have been concluded by January 18, 2013.

But the major challenge for politicians is Section 28 of the Act. It says:

“A political party that nominates a person for any election under this Act shall submit to the commission a party membership list of the party at least three months before the nomination of the candidate.”

So, calculating from the January 18, the lists should be submitted by October 18, 2012, Ms Lucy Ndungu, the acting Registrar of Political Parties, has said.

Date for submission

For the politicians to comply with the rule, they must resign from their current parties and, by extension, from Parliament as well. This is what Mr Musyimi wants changed.

He is proposing the date for submission of party membership lists be two months before the elections, shifting the dates from October to January 2013.

“It would create more time for people to negotiate,” he says.

Ms Ndung’u has said that any MP or aspirant for elective positions through nomination by a political party should be a member of the chosen party by October 18.