MPs put on notice in party register dispute

Deputy Prime Ministers Uhuru Kenyatta and Musalia Mudavadi and five MPs have been directed to respond to accusations that they broke the law by joining new political parties.

Mr Justice Mohammed Warsame on Friday gave the politicians 14 days to respond to the Registrar of Political Parties after they ignored an earlier request to do so in three days.

The Friends of Raila (Fora) lobby group moved to court seeking a declaration that Mr Kenyatta, Mr Mudavadi and MPs Aden Duale, Jeremiah Kioni, Boni Khalwale, Chirau Ali Mwakwere and Mohamed Abdikadir be deemed to have resigned from their sponsoring political parties.

Mr Kenyatta abandoned Kanu for The National Alliance (TNA) while Mr Mudavadi dumped ODM for the United Democratic Forum (UDF). They aspire to run for presidency on their new parties’ tickets.

Mr Duale left ODM and is now associated with the United Republican Party (URP) while Mr Kioni left PNU for UDF, the same party Mr Abdikadir, the Mandera Central MP who was elected on a Safina ticket, also associates himself with.

Dr Khalwale, who was elected on the New Ford-Kenya ticket, has allied himself with Mr Mudavadi’s UDF while Mr Mwakwere, elected on a PNU ticket, is in URP.

The lobby supplied Registrar of Political Parties Lucy Ndung’u with DVDs of events the group allegedly attended.

On September 17, Ms Ndung’u wrote to the politicians asking them to respond in three days. “You have been identified as an MP whose acts amount to defection or resignation,” she wrote.

They ignored the request, the registrar said in a statement in court on Friday.

Ms Ndung’u said she had no legal power to determine whether the politicians could be considered to have resigned from their parties based on the allegations and footage.

Hearing will be on October 24. (READ: Pro-Raila group in court to block party-hopping laws)