Why it’s hard for political parties in Kenya to punish rebels

Lucy Ndung’u

NAIROBI: Efforts to instill discipline in political parties through the Political Parties Act have been futile.

When it comes to reigning in on rebels, both at the national and county levels, the threshold is very high, thereby making it very difficult for parties to crack the whip, including removing rebels from party list, which automatically leads to them losing their elective seats.

With 18 months to the general election and with only two new registered political parties since 2013, the country's political focus seems to be slanting towards coalition mergers.

Yesterday, Political Parties Registrar Lucy Ndung'u said her office has only registered Amani National Congress and Citizen Party. She confirmed that there are a number of registration applications, though she did not give the exact figure. No political party or elected leader has submitted his/her resignation letter to decamp to another political outfit, Ms Ndung'u said.

"The Political Parties Act is very clear that you should only belong to one political party at one particular time. And the same Act also states clearly that if you would wish to join another party, you do so through resignation," she said.

She explained that one is required to forward a copy of the resignation letter to the party and another one to the office of the registrar to be removed from that party.

"If you are an MP or elected official, governor or MCA you are expected to resign. If you stop being a member then definitely you will need to seek re-election on the new party," she said.

Ndung'u argues that a leader being associated with another party does not necessarily mean the person has officially decamped.

"You join another party by first being in the membership of that party and not when seen in a rally with an opponent," she clarified.

On betrayal in Parliament or in the county assemblies, Ndung'u insisted that unless the matter being discussed or voted by either side of the coalition is a party position, members might get away with their actions. She noted that regardless of what is discussed in Parliament or county assembly, members must obey the party's constitution.