Sunday, July 10, 2011

Defecting MPs face new hurdle

Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka (right), Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta (centre) and Eldoret North MP William Ruto at a past function in Kericho on January 16, 2011. Photo/FILE Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka (right), Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta (centre) and Eldoret North MP William Ruto at a past function in Kericho on January 16, 2011.
Photo/FILE Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka (right), Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta (centre) and Eldoret North MP William Ruto at a past function in Kericho on January 16, 2011. The three were once believed to have been working on an alliance ahead of next year’s elections. A proposed law requires parties that form a coalition before an election to hand the registrar of political parties their coalition agreement at least three months before that election.
By OLIVER MATHENGE omathenge@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Saturday, July 9 2011 at 22:30

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MPs who wish to switch parties ahead of the next General Election may have to forfeit their seats by the end of March next year if a new Bill is passed into law.

A Bill that is yet to be tabled in Parliament and expected to be enacted before the next elections is aimed at blocking politicians from party-hopping in the run-up to the General Election.

The new law, if passed, together with the amended Political Parties Act, will require that political parties wishing to participate in elections deposit the list of their members with the registrar three months before.

The next General Election is to be held 60 days after the dissolution of the current Parliament, but the yet to be enacted Elections Bill says one has to be a member of a party for three months to qualify for nomination.

This effectively means that if elections are held on August 14, 2012, some MPs would be jobless from April next year as Parliament has to be dissolved in May. Politicians will no longer join political parties after the dissolution of Parliament.

Even under the current Political Parties Act, an MP loses his/her seat if they declare they are members of another party other than that which sponsored them to Parliament.

The Act, in Section 17(3), says no person shall be a member of more than one political party and any MP who wishes to resign from his or her party should, under Section 17(2), give a 14-day written notice to the party and the clerk of the National Assembly.

The requirement that they be members of the party that nominates them for at least three months will see most of the perennial party-hoppers locked out of elections as one cannot be a member of two parties at the same time.

The Interim Independent Electoral Commission applied this sanction by blocking former Kamukunji MP Simon Mbugua from contesting the seat on a Kanu ticket after losing in the PNU joint nominations.

The Kamukunji by-election was later stopped after another last-minute defector Mr Peter Mwangi’s nomination papers were rejected by the returning officer, Joseph Masindet. Mr Mwangi had defected from PNU after losing in the primaries.

Last-minute defectors

The IIEC had instructed its officials to crack down on last- minute defectors.

A number of MPs, especially those in ODM but are allied to Eldoret North MP William Ruto have declared that they would not be seeking re-election through the Orange party.

Last week, controversy has raged in ODM after its leadership sought to kick out councillors allied to Mr Ruto.

Mr Ruto has associated himself with the United Democratic Movement and has even declared he will run for the presidency on its ticket.

He has recently been joined by Cabinet ministers Naomi Shabaan (Kanu), Chirau Ali Mwakwere (PNU) and Samuel Poghisio (ODM-Kenya).

Although Political Parties Registrar Ms Lucy Ndung’u did not wish to comment on the new laws before they are enacted, she has previously said the current Act is ambiguous on party-hopping in the run up to the General Election.

The MPs have the option of running as independent candidates but this, too, may be an uphill task as the Elections Bill says one cannot run without a party unless they have been partyless for more than three months.

Centre for Multi-Party Democracy chairman Justin Muturi told the Sunday Nation that the current MPs will have themselves to blame if they allow the law to block them from running.

“When the Bill comes to Parliament, they should put in it a transition mechanism that will protect sitting MPs. This will only serve for that purpose, just like the transition clauses in the Constitution,” Mr Muturi said.
He said the proposed move would help in strengthening party democracy as well as safeguard the public from politicians who just join parties due to their popularity.

Last-minute registration of political parties will be outlawed as the law will require registration of parties 12 months before the election.

Parties that form a coalition before an election are also required to hand the registrar their coalition agreement at least three months before that election.

The proposed law will also require a political party to submit its nomination rules to the electoral commission at least five months before the nomination of its candidate.

The supporters of a candidate for presidential, parliamentary, county governor and county assembly election have to be registered members of the candidate’s political party.

On the other hand, the supporters of an independent candidate should not be registered members of any political party.

The importance of party lists is further emphasised by the Constitution as it is from the register that political parties will nominate members.

The Constitution thus bars politicians from nominating their cronies if they are defeated in the election as has been the practice.

The Constitution says a political party have to indicate, before the election, the priority under which its members qualify for nomination for seats in Parliament, Senate and county assemblies.

In case there is a by-election, only persons who are on the party register are eligible for nomination by a political party.

The powers of Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to deal with election offences have also been boosted by the Constitution in Article 84, which says all candidates and political parties must comply with the code of conduct prescribed by the commission.

The proposed law also blocks politicians from horse-trading in case there is a runoff in the presidential or governors elections.

Candidates will not be allowed to change running mates after the first round of election, in case a runoff is required.

The proposed Elections Bill is an amalgamation of 17 pieces of election-related laws which existed in the old constitution under different Acts.

The proposed Bill is one of the recommendations of the Kriegler Commission which investigated the 2007 election fiasco.

Among the new rules that candidates will have to comply with is a declaration of expenditure for each candidate supported by the party during an election.

Candidates will also have to be cleared by the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission before they are nominated to run in an election.

Apart from the identity of the candidate, his or her party membership number and physical address, the parties will be required to state how much money the candidate has received and how it has been spent.

The candidate’s contribution is also expected to be declared as well as the amounts and identities of other people or institutions who contributed to the his or her campaign.

Candidates will also be barred from initiating development projects in their areas three months before the election.

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