Senate passes IEBC report, allows provision on party-hopping

What you need to know:

  • Kiraitu Murungi said allowing party-hoppers free rein would beat the purpose of conducting party nominations.
  • Siaya Senator James Orengo said aspirants who choose to stand on certain parties, should be able to remain members not only for election purposes but for ideological reasons.
  • Hassan Omar opposed the law, saying many MPs and governors would not have been elected having decamped to other parties after initially losing out on nominations.

The Senate has approved the Joint Select Committee's report on electoral reforms, including a controversial proposal banning party-hopping that had been backed by the two co-chairmen of the panel.

Meru Senator Kiraitu Murungi, one of the co-chairmen, said allowing party-hoppers free rein would beat the purpose of conducting party nominations especially if all the candidates, after losing, decamped to other parties and started fighting the winners under the guise of other parties.

Siaya Senator James Orengo, the other co-chairman, said aspirants who choose to stand on certain parties, should be able to remain members not only for election purposes but for ideological reasons.

“Locking out party-hoppers will ensure we develop strong parties with an ideological soul. MPs should support the law since the general spirit is to ensure that candidates who feel violated by political parties have enough time to seek redress,” he said.

Mr Orengo said by enjoying state funding, political parties should be run almost at the level of government institutions by ensuring they were not only strong but that internal democracy thrived.

However, Busia Senator Amos Wako criticised the proposed law providing that primaries for candidates from various political parties be held on the same day as for independent candidates.

The former attorney-general said party nominations should be conducted before nominations for independents to give losers a chance to run on other platforms.

Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar also opposed the law, saying many MPs and governors would not have been elected having decamped to other parties after initially losing out on nominations.

Mr Omar said the law barring party-hoppers benefited only “oligarchs” who own parties.