High Court dismisses petition against Political Parties amendment Act
The High Court has dismissed three petitions to strike out the Political Parties (Amendment) Act 2021 that paved way for the formation of coalition political parties in the country.
The three-judge bench consisting of Hedwig Ongudi, Esther Maina and Daniel Ogembo found that it was not unconstitutional since there was elaborate public participation that led to the amendment of the Act.
The court ruled that there was substantive public participation as evidence indicated there were reasonable engagements between various stakeholders.
“We find that the public participation that took place before the enactment of the disputed amendment was consultative, meaningful, and reasonable. The amendment cannot, therefore, be nullified on this ground,” said the court.
The judges added that the amendments do not render the principal Political Parties Act ambiguous, uncertain, or vague.
Another finding by the court was that the inclusion of Coalition Political Parties as a distinct political party is constitutional.
The bench has, however, overturned the decision of the National Assembly to delete section 31(3) of the principal Act.
The effect of the deletion exempted political parties from being audited annually by the Auditor-General.
The court said the decision of the National Assembly is unconstitutional.
Further, the court quashed Section 34(f)(d) of the amended Act on powers of the Registrar in respect of political party records.
“Section 34(f)(d) is unconstitutional as regulation of political party nomination is the mandate of IEBC and not the registrar of political parties,” said the court.
The other judges on the bench were Esther Maina and Daniel Ogembo.
The petitioners led by Murang’a governor Mwangi Wairia’s political outfit, Usawa kwa Wote party, wanted the court to declare that the law relied on the electoral commission in publishing the timelines is discriminatory because it allows the same losers to contest as independent candidates.
The other petitioners were activist Salesio Mutuma Thuranira and four civil society groups – Katiba Institute, Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), Africa Centre for Open Governance (AfriCOG), and International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) Kenya).
They argued that the Political Parties Act (Amendment) Act, 2021 is unconstitutional because the promoters failed to allow meaningful public participation.
