Deputy President William Ruto allies have complained of a plot to frustrate United Democratic Alliance (UDA) members from resigning from the ruling party Jubilee as parties prepare for primaries.
Bomet Central MP Ronald Tonui, Sotik’s Dominic Koskei and Bomet Woman Representative Joyce Korir said some members are finding it difficult to move to other parties after abandoning Jubilee.
According to them, some who resigned have found their membership reinstated.
“The registrar has to address the issues raised by voters and potential UDA members. Their democratic right to association as provided for in the Constitution should not be curtailed,” Tonui said.
Korir and Koskei said most of those who have resigned from Jubilee find it difficult to register as UDA members, with results on e-citizen not coming through to confirm their new political party.
Bomet County UDA Coordinator, Stephen Mutai, said migration is posing challenges because the registrar prefers to upload new party members digitally.
“About 10 per cent of the population is on an e-citizen platform,” he said.
Mutai, who has been recruiting UDA members in the South Rift, said the problem has persisted for months.
According Korir, most voters in rural area do not have e-citizen accounts and should be allowed to register as members of political parties manually.
“Their details should be accepted and uploaded to the register. It’s everyone’s right to belong to a party of their choice,” Korir added.
They urged the Registrar of Political Parties to ensure resignations, migrations and registrations are seamless to avoid conflicts.
Last week, the registrar of Political Parties Anne Nderitu made a revelation that anybody seeking to participate in the General Election should be a member of the political party of his choice by March 26 as it emerged that the Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua ordered all public officers who intend to contest in the elections to vacate office by February 8.
“Anybody seeking to participate in the General Election should be a member of the political party of his choice by March 26,” said the registrar.
The election operational plan published by the electoral commission requires political parties to submit the list of their registered members to the commission four months before the August 9 General Election, which is April 9.
Nderitu told a consultative meeting on access to information framework on elections and media practice that those aspiring to contest in the elections must join political parties of their choice by March 26, warning that there will be no room to defect once the list is submitted to her office.
The Political Parties (Amendment) Act, signed into law by President Uhuru Kenyatta last week, further requires political parties to submit the same list to the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP) 14 days before they are submitted to the commission, which will be March 26.
There has been debate since the new law came into force as to what will happen when state officers holding elective office defect or lose their membership in a political party that sponsored them to their positions.
The Jubilee Party has a significant number of MPs who had declared their allegiance to UDA and there are questions as to whether they will continue holding their offices once they resign and officially join UDA, which they have been promoting since his falling out with President Kenyatta.
Even if they resigned, the MPs will get a reprieve from Article 101(5) of the Constitution that bars the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) from conducting by-elections three months to the elections.
However, Jubilee Secretary General Raphael Tuju said the party would not push to have the MPs or the DP lose their seats since it will end up in unending litigation.
“There are a lot of legal issues, including the contradiction in the law that there cannot be a by-election three months to the General Election,” said Tuju
