Energy minister Kiraitu Murungi during a news conference. Mr Murungi was elected on a PNU ticket but has since thrown his weight behind the Alliance Party of Kenya. He is just one of several likely casualties of laws governing elections who could be forced to vacate their seats in Parliament for joining a party different from the one that got them into the House. Photo/FILE
By EMEKA-MAYAKA GEKARA gmayaka@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Saturday, April 21 2012 at 22:30
Posted Saturday, April 21 2012 at 22:30
IN SUMMARY
- Politicians who have indicated they wish to switch parties include Uhuru, Mudavadi, Ruto, Poghisio, Kiraitu, Kiunjuri and Balala
A big number of MPs would be forced to vacate their seats in Parliament in the near future as the new law on elections catches up with politicians changing parties across the board.
Among the likely casualties of laws governing elections will be key Cabinet ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Eldoret North MP William Ruto, and Cabinet ministers Kiraitu Murungi (Energy) and Samuel Poghisio (Information).
Others will be assistant ministers Mwangi Kiunjuri, Kabando wa Kabando, Nderitu Muriithi, Peter Kenneth, former Tourism minister Najib Balala and a host of MPs from the Rift Valley and North Eastern provinces, especially those allied to Mr Ruto’s United Republican Party (URP).
The same will befall Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi if he ditches Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement.
The group constitutes politicians who have indicated that they will contest the next election on new parties — different from those that sponsored them to Parliament.
The Elections Act 2011 decrees that for the politicians to contest the next elections expected on March 4, 2013, they must be fully registered members of their new parties by October this year.
Section 13 of the Act says that a political party shall nominate its candidates for an election at least 45 days before a General Election, according to its constitution and nomination rules.
According to the electoral commission, with the polls scheduled for March 4, the party nominations should be concluded by January 18, 2013.
But the major challenge will be requirements of Section 28 of the Act.
It says: “A political party that nominates a person for any election under this Act shall submit to the commission a party membership list of the party at least three months before the nomination of the candidate.”
Therefore, calculating from the January 18 date, the lists should be submitted by October 18, 2012, says Ms Lucy Ndung’u, the acting Registrar of Political Parties.
For the politicians to comply with the rule, they must resign from their current parties and, therefore, Parliament. And, for them to join the new political parties, they would have resigned from the parties that sponsored them to Parliament.
“Members of Parliament or anyone who wishes to vie for any elective position through nomination by a political party should be a member of that party by this date,” Ms Ndung’u told the Sunday Nation in an interview.
“It is not possible for any person who does not appear in their party membership list by October to be able to be nominated either for elective positions or to be included in the party lists,” she noted.
This means that politicians intending to change parties have barely five months in Parliament, unless the law is amended. If they resign, they would lose four months of salary.
While Mr Kenyatta, a Kanu MP, has indicated that he will be contesting the presidency on another party, Mr Ruto has identified himself with the URP together with Mr Poghisio (ODM-Kenya) and ODM members such as Aden Duale, Charles Keter, Isaac Ruto and Ekwee Ethuro of PNU.
Though elected on a PNU ticket, Mr Murungi has thrown his weight behind the Alliance Party of Kenya while Mr Muriithi, Mr Kabando and Mandera Central legislator Abdikadir Mohammed have associated themselves with the United Democratic Front.
Mr Balala, who was last month sacked as minister, has indicated that he will ditch the Orange party in the next election while Mr Kenneth, the Gatanga MP who intends to vie for the presidency, is campaigning on the Kenya National Congress platform.
Immigration minister Otieno Kajwang and presidential aspirant Paul Muite said the MPs intending to seek re-election on different parties must resign from their current groupings and Parliament before the October 18 deadline unless the law is amended.
“They must resign from their parties which will mean they also lose their parliamentary seats. The spirit of the law was to ensure that members identify with a political party for some sufficient time before using it as an election vehicle,” said Mr Kajwang, who blamed the Registrar of Political Parties for failing to rein in truancy in political parties.
The minister said that if the law was applied, Mr Mudavadi, who has indicated that he might board a different vehicle for the election, would lose his parliamentary seat because of denouncing his party as well as his post as DPM.
He raised concern that the registrar had entertained MPs who had openly defected from parties that sponsored them to Parliament.
“There is no way they can comply with the elections law and Articles 91 and 92 of the Constitution without resigning from their current political parties and Parliament,” he said.
“The culture of impunity that has characterised management of parties will meet with the law.”
Mr Abdikadir Mohammed, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee on the Constitution, said that MPs have a duty to adhere to the law that they passed.
However, he revealed that the House Committee on Legal Affairs (he is a member) has been considering proposals to amend the elections law to change the timelines and “prevent such an eventuality”.
His argument was that there should be a mechanism to allow MPs to change their political parties without losing their seats.
“Though change of political parties is a legitimate move in politics, we don’t want to fall foul of the law.”
He also indicated that the matter might be arbitrated by the courts, especially whether MPs should automatically lose their seats after shifting party loyalties.
He said the proposed amendments are aimed at aligning the timelines with the spirit of the Political Parties Act and reality on the ground.
Unless the amendments are made, efforts to comply with the Elections Act will most certainly hurt the operations of Parliament following the expected forced resignations.
The resignations would be a relief for taxpayers who are supposed to foot the MPs’ hefty salaries until January next year, unless the life of the coalition comes to an end earlier.
However, MPs who intend to move to outfits that are in the same coalition with their current parties may be spared.
These include Narc-Kenya leader Martha Karua, Water minister Charity Ngilu (Narc chairperson) and Prof George Saitoti of PNU who have indicated that they will remain in the political parties that sent them to Parliament in 2007.
Ideally, says Mr Muite, the MPs who have shifted allegiance to parties different from those that sponsored them should have resigned a long time ago.
“They are holding their positions because Section 14 of the Political Parties Act is not being enforced,” he said.
The section says a person is disqualified from membership of a political party if he forms or joins another political party.
Members can also be disqualified if he publicly advocates for the formation of another political party or promotes the ideology, interests or policies of another political party.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment