Chaos main cause of high number of nomination cases

Chaotic nominations were the main cause of the high number of cases filed before the Political Parties Dispute Tribunal, the majority of them challenging the conduct of the polls, pointing to lack of internal democracy to govern management of nomination to elective seats.

Political parties failed to follow even the most basic rules and these irregularities were manifested in the cases brought before the PPDT.

They included certificates being given to losers, returning officers appointed by a party in a particular constituency purporting to issue provisional certificates to aspirants elsewhere, county returning officers being appointed on phone and returning officers being kidnapped, leaving results to be announced by ‘strangers’ who had no letter of authorisation from the party.

Those who felt the nominations were unfair then filed lawsuits.

But the numbers were also high because, even genuine losers who refused to accept the will of the people also wanted to have their day in court.

According to lawyer Samuel Aduda, the amount of money most of the political parties were paying returning officers was too little to attract the services of people with the necessary capacity and qualification to conduct credible nominations.

'BETTER PAY'

“The returning officers had put their life on the line, especially when in places where winning party nominations is as good as winning an election,” said Mr Aduda. “The parties should have offered better pay to attract the best persons and also reduce the risk of them being compromised by aspirants.”

The effect of the many cases was that the seven members of the PPDT, who have been handling disputes emanating from the party nomnations, had to work extra hard and for long hours to beat the deadline of resolving them.

The PPDT is chaired by Mr Kyalo Mbobu. The members are Ms Milly Lwanga Odongo, Mr Paul Ngotho, Dr Adelide Mbithi, Mr Desma Nungo, Mr James Atemi and Mr Hassan Abdi.

Mr Mbobu recalled instances when they had to work for 18 hours a day. Nonetheless, the tribunal continued to sit long past the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission deadline. The initial deadline was May 10 but the electoral commission agreed to extend PPDT sittings to May 14, when cases before the tribunal were to be completed.

However, the High Court later issued orders directing the tribunal to reopen its registry. The tribunal hired legal researchers to assist them.

GO DIRECTLY

Mr Mbobu said they avoided time wastage by encouraging antagonists to go directly to their complaint rather than file one application after another. That way, they were able to deliver a judgment in the shortest time possible.

Legal experts have recommended that the PPDT’s activities be devolved to the counties to ease pressure and make justice more accessible.

There were more than 300 cases filed before the PPDT, from all the 47 counties, challenging the nomination of governors, senators, woman representatives, Members of Parliament and Members of the County Assembly.

There are suggestions that the law be amended so that the appointing authority, for purposes of the disputes that arise after the party nominations, be given powers to gazette more members of the tribunal on a temporary basis to address any backlog. They should then be sent to the counties so that not all cases are filed in Nairobi.

'CONCENTRATING EVERYTHING'

“Conducting the PPDT hearings at the counties could have helped but concentrating everything in Nairobi, and only two panels, was not properly done,” said Mr Aduda. “The whole process needs to be thought out again.”

Mr Mbobu suggests that timelines need to be defined when the nominations should start and end, and when the parties should have resolved their own internal disputes.

Further, it should also be clear when the PPDT should commence and conclude its sittings.

“We had made a proposal to Parliament, where the Judicial Service Commission would appoint ad hoc members of the PPDT so that people from far-flung parts of the country will not have to come to Nairobi but the proposal was not taken up,” said Mr Mbobu.

LITTLE ROOM

Another lawyer, Mr Edward Oonge, said the situation was worsened by political parties, which waited to conduct their nominations at the last minute, thereby leaving little room for resolving resulting disputes.

“Party nominations are not emergencies and there is no reason why they should be conducted at the last minute and put everyone to an unnecessary deadline,” said Mr Oonge. “They could have as well been held in January and February.”

He added: “Conducting nominations late is inexcusable.”

In December of last year, parliamentarians amended the law to bar party hopping. This made the nominations a must-win duel for most aspirants because there were no options in case of defeat, observed lawyer Nelson Havi.

Many therefore felt that they had to put in every effort to get the party certificate and PPDT was one such avenue.

'FIRST TIME'

Most of the nominations were also conducted using the IEBC voters register instead of the party roll and this left a lot of room for manipulation, which resulted in disputes.

“It is also the first time the PPDT was handling disputes arising from party nominations,” said Mr Havi. “Last time it was the IEBC, and so they are still learning the ropes.

“They also lack capacity because they are few, and this has been a challenge.”

The Political Parties Act provides that, before a dispute is lodged before the PPDT, the aggrieved should first exhaust the party’s internal dispute resolution mechanism. Some litigants therefore had their cases dismissed after they filed them before doing that.

CONFLICTING DECISIONS

But Mr Aduda states that two conflicting decisions from the High Court “had, to an extent, caused confusion because they were both from a court of competent jurisdiction”. In one ruling, the court upheld the findings by the PPDT that it lacked jurisdiction to handle cases unless the party’s internal mechanism was exhausted while, in the other, it directed the PPDT to hear the cases.

The tribunal has, nevertheless, been encouraging parties to grow internally because most of them have established the internal dispute resolution mechanism in their election rules.

However, lawyer Harrison Kinyanjui feels that the high number of aspirants for the various seats also has something to do with the attractive remuneration associated with these political seats compared to what they were earning in their previous occupations.

GLAMOROUS LIFESTYLES

Politicians are also envied a lot in the country and the glamorous lifestyles some of them lead made the nominations a life-or-death opportunity for some aspirants.

“Some were not driven by their leadership qualities or a vision for the people they want to lead but by the money they were going to make, the prestige of being called ‘mheshimiwa’ and all the other related benefits,” said Mr Kinyanjui.

Mr Kinyanjui said once they lost the nominations their dream was shattered and they saw in the PPDT an opportunity to realise it “especially because they heard there are those who went there and were successful”.

A sizable number of aspirants also borrowed millions of shillings or sold assets to finance their campaigns. And when they lost, they decided to jump into the independent candidates’ ship to remain relevant and justify their cause, he added.

If Parliament today passed a law substantially reducing the salaries, said the lawyer, only a fraction of the aspirants may still be interested in the seats.