Tuesday, March 13, 2012

ODM, PNU risk being locked out



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THE ROLL: Registrar of Political Parties Lucy Ndung'u addresses the gathering during a meeting on women and their participation in politics. Photo/Charles Kimani
MANY big political parties may have trouble complying with the stringent conditions of the new Political Parties Act by the April 30 deadline. Each party has to sign up at least 1,000 members in 24 counties. The computer system at the office of the Registrar of Political Parties is automatically disqualifying any individuals already registered in other parties, non registered voters and those whose ID numbers are shared among several voters.
The parties are then forced back to the ground to replace rejected members and the base of politically active Kenyans willing to join political parties is dwindling. A major scramble for members is now in the offing as the deadline approaches. Demonstrating to the Star how the system works, registrar Lucy Ndung'u, assisted by two officials Leonard Rotich and Josephat Nyongesa, picked on a list of 790 members from one county in the Coast sent by a party struggling to hit the 1,000 mark.
On subjecting them to the system, only 279 names were accepted. Some 511 were rejected because they were already registered by other parties or not registered as voters. “It's not us rejecting these names, it's the system. Parties must go out there and convince members of the public to join them and forward their names to us for verification,” Ndung'u said.
Only five parties have so far complied by having at least 1,000 members in 24 counties. These are the Grand National Union, Narc Kenya, National Vision Party, Patriotic Party of Kenya and Labour Party of Kenya. Some parties have resorted to opening temporary files with the registrar to gradually update their county membership lists. Of the compliant parties, the highest has recruited over 1,000 members in 31 counties.
Some parties have only managed to do one county so far. “It's not easy to hit 1,000 members per county knowing the base for those who can be recruited is so narrow. Many professionals do not belong to parties or are not keen to. The same applies to many church people and many civil servants. Parties must now push harder,” Ndung'u added.
Ultimately, parties that delay their recruitment drives may find willing members taken up by other parties. Before the Political Parties Act came into force last November, party membership was a joke and could not be proved. Apart from party officials, it was difficult to identify who else was a party member. It was possible for people to belong to more than one party and party primaries were difficult. Parties which have complied have attested to the difficulty of meeting the condition.
Yesterday, GNU party leader Mwangi Kiunjuri predicted that some big parties might fold up for good after the April 30 deadline. “It's quite a headache. Our advantage is that we are a grassroots party and we were able to make it. Now that we have made it, we will monitor to ensure no party bends the rules in its rush to get registered,” Kiunjuri said. Besides the 1,000 members in at least 24 counties, parties must table proof of having physical offices in at least 24 counties. They must also submit physical addresses of their head offices and undertake to comply with both the Political Parties Act and Code of Conduct.
All members in the governing bodies must not be declared bankrupt, ex-convicts of more than six months service or contravening Chapter Six of the constitution on leadership and integrity. Proof of all these must be lodged with the registrar. “We will visit all stated branch offices and verify for ourselves in the same way we are verifying membership. We will check their governing bodies to ensure they comply as well. We have 30 days under the law to do so,” Ndung'u said.
She added that a team from her office is already out verifying the physical location of offices for the four parties who had lodged their applications by yesterday. Parties which will not have complied by April 30 will automatically lose their provisional registration status and be deregistered.

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