The campaign tracker today: 06-03-2017
Maina Njenga sues Jubilee Party, IEBC
1.20pm
Former Mungiki leader Maina Njenga has sued IEBC and the Jubilee party for refusing to accept his nomination papers for the Laikipia Senate seat.
Mr Njenga claims the move infringes on his political right since he has paid Sh250,000, the fee for registration and nomination.
LPK extends deadline for receiving nomination papers
12.50pm
Labour Party of Kenya (LPK) has extended the deadline for receiving nomination papers from prospective aspirants to March 15, 2017.
Parties shift focus to recruitment of members
10.32AM
Political parties have now shifted their focus to massive recruitment of members ahead of primaries, following the submission of nomination rules to the electoral commission.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) had set Thursday March 2, 2017 as the deadline for parties to submit their rules, failure to which they will be barred from holding nominations.
And with the deadline of nomination rules having passed, focus now shifts to submission of party membership lists which closes on March 19.
Only those members in the party lists will participate in nominations scheduled to take place between April 13 and 26.
Already, leading parties have mobilised their members to register with different aspirants tasked to individually run the recruitment drives in what they hope will not only help them in the nominations, but also shore up their parties’ support countrywide.
So intense is the search for members that President Uhuru Kenyatta promised in 2016 to “reward” the county, constituency and ward with most registered (jubilee) members.
“It is the members that will do the nomination and if you do not get a good number and you do the primaries, the candidates selected will not be a reflection of the will of the people,” Mr Raphael Tuju, the head of the Jubilee Party Secretariat told Nation.co.ke.
ODM
An ODM membership recruitment drive netted four million new members since the inception of digital membership registration in March 2015, up from 800,000 in 2013.
ODM is Kenya’s single largest party in terms of numbers, boasting 96 MPs, 16 governors, and 11 senators elected on its ticket.
“The response from our members across the country has been enormous and encouraging,” said ODM Secretary-General Agnes Zani.
JUBILEE
A similar drive by the Jubilee team, which involves a Sh20 membership smart card, has so far netted six million members, with the hope of hitting seven million by March 19, Mr Tuju said.
“A party is only as strong as its members. We want to have the most popular candidates chosen by as many members as possible in the nominations,” Mr Tuju said by phone.
NO EXTENSION
IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati had on Thursday said that there will be no extension of the deadline for parties to submit nomination rules and only those that had submitted the rules will be certified to field candidates.
“We have so far received nomination rules from 34 political parties. We will not accept any other after close of business Thursday,” said Mr Chebukati at the commission’s offices in Nairobi.
However, he said that those that had not submitted but had not changed their rules from those used in the 2013 elections, need not do it again.
The commission has said it will on Tuesday suspend listing of all voters in and outside the country until September 6, a month after the general election to provide time for auditing and verification of the voter register.
Between March 26 and April 5, the parties are required to submit names of candidates for their nominations which will be held between April 13 and April 26.
