Kanu leadership wrangle sent to parties’ tribunal

By EUNICE MACHUHI, emachuhi@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Thursday, June 2 2011 at 17:33

The leadership dispute in Kanu has been referred to the parties tribunal.

The registrar of political parties has said that a case filed by four Kanu members, who are challenging the intended deregistration of the party, should be referred to the Political Parties Dispute Tribunal.

Ms Lucy Ndung’u said the tribunal was the only one that could hear and decide such matters, since the High Court had no jurisdiction conferred on it by the Constitution.

“The tribunal is accorded a mandate to determine disputes between members of a political party. Members were appointed and sworn in on January 7, 2011 and the tribunal is currently operational hence the matter should be referred to it for determination,” she said.

Through lawyer Francis Kadima, Ms Ndung’u opposed a petition filed by the Kanu members seeking to bar her from dissolving the party.

Mombasa High Court judge Jackton Ojwang’ issued an injunction barring the registrar from dissolving the party, pending the hearing and determination of the case.

In her response to the petition, the registrar argued that the petition was incompetent for failing to comply with the Political Parties Act.

“The tribunal created under Act No. 10 of 2007 has horizontal powers with that of the High Court in matters authorised to be reviewed by the tribunal,” she stated in her affidavit.

Ms Ndung’u added that the jurisdiction of the High Court was limited to winding up proceedings affecting political parties.

In the main suit, Mr Abdulrahman Abdalla, Mr Edward Oluchiri, Mr Mwachanje Kilelu and Mr Paul Kibet have sought to stop the dissolution of the party after the registrar wrote a letter in January saying that it would be deregistered within 90 days in accordance with the new Constitution.

The members also want Kanu chairman Uhuru Kenyatta, who is also Finance Minister, to relinquish his party position as per the new Constitution.