Wetang'ula seeks court intervention to stop his ouster

Embattled Ford-Kenya party leader Moses Wetang’ula (pictured) has taken his battle for survival to court in a bid to stop his rivals from taking over the party.

In an application at the Political Parties Dispute Tribunal, Wetang’ula wants orders to stop the Registrar of Political Parties Anne Nderitu from effecting changes at the party to recognize Kanduyi MP Wafula Wamunyinyi as the new party leader.

Wetang’ula alleged that there were people outside the party who orchestrated his illegal removal as party leader and that he has credible information that his detractors have been well funded by the outside forces to destabilize Ford-Kenya.

Through lawyer Eunice Lumallas, Wetang’ula accused Wamunyinyi and Tongaren MP Eseli Simiyu of using illegal means to oust him as the party leader and that any move by Ms Nderitu to accept the changes will be criminal.

“The applicant has every reason to believe that the documents presented to the registrar of political parties to effect the purported changes of leadership were forgeries. The registrar of political parties cannot act on those documents as it will be in violation of the constitution,” said Lumallas.

Ms Lumallas claimed that the documents presented by Wamunyinyi and Dr Simuyu to the registrar purporting to have been signatories to Wetang’ula’s ouster were forgeries.

According to the lawyer, Ford-Kenya did not sanction a National Executive Council meeting to be held at a Nairobi Hotel which resolved to remove the leader from office.

She added that the party has a disciplinary committee to handle any dispute and that Wamunyinyi and Dr Simuyu should have approached the committee if they had any grievances against the party leader.

“What we want is the status quo to be maintained in the list of the party’s officials pending the determination of the dispute and we are asking the tribunal to stop Ms Nderitu from acting upon any documents presented to her office as notice of change of Ford-Kenya leadership,” she said.

Although the PPDT had given them a hearing date of June 16, the party have applied to be heard immediately claiming that they fear the registrar might affect the changes due to pressure from outside forces before the matter is determined.

Ms Lumallas submitted that although Dr Simuyu’s team had presented to the registrar a letter purporting that they had notified Wetang’ula of the intention to remove him, no such letter was ever sent to him to justify the ouster.

She stated that the registrar of political parties has a duty to ensure that political parties adhere to their constitution and cannot act on the changes when Ford-Kenya’s constitution is being violated to satisfy ulterior motives.

“It is in the interest of democracy that there be order in political parties. The registrar cannot act on forged documents to effect the changes of leadership as that will be tantamount to killing parties and promoting impunity,” said Lumallas.

She claimed that the registrar has not acted on another list of the intended change of officials by the Wetang’ula camp which replaced Dr Simuyu as the party’s secretary-general and that she should have first allowed the warring sides to exhaust internal dispute resolution before taking any action.