Parties race to comply with Act

It’s a race against time for presidential aspirants as they seek to comply with the Constitution’s tough conditions on political parties.

The Political Parties Act, which came into effect in November last year, spells out stringent conditions for political parties to comply with or risk disqualification from fielding candidates in the General Election.

Leading presidential aspirants have recently spent considerable amount of resources and energy revitalising their parties to meet the tough requirements.

Registrar of Political Parties Lucy Ndung’u confirmed that she had written to all political parties to obey the rules.

“We have written to the parties, asking them to ensure that they abide by the guidelines before the deadline,” she told Nation.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga is on Thursday set to meet ODM’s branch officials elected during the party’s grassroots elections held in November last year.

Eldoret North MP William Ruto is also expected to announce his new political vehicle on Thursday after quitting UDM in a huff on Monday following internal wrangles.

Boycott launch

Mr Ruto and two other leading presidential aspirants Uhuru Kenyatta and George Saitoti boycotted a planned launch of the PNU Alliance set for on Tuesday to concentrate on individual parties.

While Prof Saitoti was in Mombasa to popularise his PNU party at the weekend, Mr Kenyatta has lately revived his interest in Kanu, summoning the party’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting last Thursday to heal internal rifts.

The party is scheduled to hold another NEC meeting on Thursday.

According to Kanu organising secretary Justin Muturi, the heightened activity in various political parties is aimed at conforming to the new laws.

“The sudden rush to take charge of political parties is because of the stringent provisions of the Political Parties Act," he said.

Ford-Kenya secretary-general Eseli Simiyu agrees: “Many of these presidential aspirants have since realised that one must have a political party, which complies with the Political Parties Act. Some of them suddenly find themselves naked and are now running around looking for clothes to wear.”

Political analyst Macharia Munene said the sudden jostling for control of political parties had everything to do with the elections.

“There is sudden jostling for positions in political parties, this happens whenever elections approach,” said Prof Munene.

Mr Musyoka recently renamed his ODM-Kenya the Wiper Democratic Movement and declared that it was the political vehicle he would use to negotiate any pre-election deal.