Registrar declares six MPs partyless

Six MPs, including two assistant ministers, have been declared partyless by the Registrar of Political Parties.

Foreign Affairs assistant minister Richard Onyonka and Cooperative Development assistant minister Linah Jebii Kilomo are among those in the list provided by Lucy Ndung’u following a court order last week.

Others are Gatundu North’s Clement Waibara, Makadara’s Gideon Mbuvi Kioko, Barnabbas Muturi of Kiharu and David Mwaniki Ngugi of Kinangop.

According to the registrar, Ms Kilimo’s sponsoring party KENDA did not meet the requirements of the Political Parties Act 2011 while Mr Onyonka was removed from the register under Section 17 (4) of the Political Parties Act of 2007.

Mr Waibara is partyless in the membership database of the registrar, Mr Mbuvi was removed from the registrar pending the determination of a petition filed against him by Narc-Kenya while Mr Muturi and Mr Ngugi’s Sisi kwa Sisi party did not meet the requirements of the Political Parties Act.

The registrar, however, said that the MPs positions are safe until the end of the current Parliament and they can choose to support any party in the House.

"Section 40 of the old Constitution allows them to stay in office until the end of the current Parliament and they can opt to join and support any political party of their choice,” said Ndung’u.

The fate of six other MPs also hung in the balance, awaiting the outcome of court cases filed against them for declaring that they had quit parties that sponsored them to Parliament.

According to the list by the registrar, MPs William Ruto, Aden Duale, Charles Keter, Isaac Ruto and Joshua Kutuny are still members of ODM but their status will be subject to a court ruling of a suit filed against them by Mpuri Aburi.

Mr Ruto and the MPs allied to him have publicly declared that they quit ODM and joined the United Republican Party (URP).

Justice Mohammed Warsame last week ordered Ms Ndung’u to furnish the court with a list of MPs and their political parties following an application by a lobby group linked to Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

Declare seats vacant

The Friends of Raila (FORA) through lawyer Anthony Oluoch are seeking to compel Ms Ndung’u to take action against MPs who have defected from parties that sponsored them to Parliament.

Mr Oluoch submitted that the failure to take action against MPs who have publicly decamped from parties that sponsored them to parliament is a violation of the constitution and the Political Parties Act and want an order compelling the registrar and the Speaker of the National Assembly to declare those seats vacant.

The lobby accused Ms Ndung’u of failing to ensure and verify that no person is a member of more than one political party despite public declarations by some MPs that they had changed parties and public displays of disobedience to the Political Parties Act.

According to Mr Oluoch, the registrar has failed to fully comply with the Act which gives her power to register, regulate, monitor, investigate, and supervise political parties to ensure compliance with the law.

Section 14 of the Act provides that any person who while being a member of a political party falls out with the party shall be deemed to have resigned from the previous political party.

And despite public declarations by several MPs that they had changed parties, the list provided by the registrar shows that the MPs are still members of the parties that sponsored them to Parliament.

Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and MPs allied to him have joined the National Alliance Party although he is still registered as a member of Kanu. His counterpart Musalia Mudavadi also moved to UDF even though he is an elected ODM MP.

Ms Ndung’u in her affidavit said that her office did not have the information and documents relating to the particular parties that sponsored all the 222 MPs, and that the information she provided was as per the political party membership as at May 30.

She said that the Political Parties Act was not in operation during the last elections and since they were operating under the societies Act, she could only provide the details which are at Parliament’s registry.

The petition is scheduled for hearing on July 18.