Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Raila's group back in court in bid to eject rebel MPs


Raila's group back in court in bid to eject rebel MPs

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Friends of Raila lobby group lawyer Anthony Oluoch (second right) outside the High Court in Nairobi in this file photo.
Friends of Raila lobby group lawyer Anthony Oluoch (second right) outside the High Court in Nairobi in this file photo.  
By PAMELA JEPKEMEI
Posted  Wednesday, July 18  2012 at  09:21
A lobby group allied to Prime Minister Raila Odinga will Wednesday morning ask the court to order the Registrar of Political parties to review television footages and newspaper reports and give a report of MPs who have publicly supported parties that did not sponsor them to parliament.
Lawyer Anthony Olouch acting for Friends of Raila (Fora) said he will be presenting a new application at the High Court in Nairobi seeking orders to compel the Registrar of Political Parties to file an affidavit to confirm if any of the 222 MPs have flouted Section 14 (5) of the Political Parties Act.
The section bars any MP from supporting the ideologies of another political party other than the one which sponsored him to Parliament. Fora filed the application on Tuesday.
Any MP who advocates ideologies of another party will be deemed to have resigned from the party that sponsored him to Parliament.
According to Fora, the court will be asked to direct the Registrar, Mrs Lucy Ndung’u to review television footages and newspaper reports on public functions attended by politicians so that she can be informed of any breaches by the MPs.
Fora is also expected to present arguments in support of their case seeking ejection of rebel Mps before Lady Justice Cecelia Githua at the High Court in Nairobi.
The group filed the case in May seeking an order forcing the Registrar to write to the Speaker National Assembly to declare vacant the seats held by rebel ODM MPs.
The lobby contends that the Registrar's failure to take action against the MPs is a violation of the Constitution and the Political Parties Act.
The lobby wants the Mps who have defected from ODM ejected from Parliament.
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About 100 MPs risk losing their seats if the case succeeds.
The lobby group's petition is also seeking a directive to the registrar to publish information regarding all political parties that complied with the Act as at April 30 and a list of MPs who are registered in those parties.
They accused Ms Ndung'u of failing to ensure and verify that no person is a member of more than one party despite public declarations by some MPs that they had changed parties.
According to the petitioners, Ms Ndung'u has failed to fully comply with Section 34 of the Political Parties Act which gives her power to register, regulate, monitor, investigate, and supervise political parties to ensure compliance with the Act.
Section 14 of the Act provides that any person who while being a member of a political party falls out with the party shall be deemed to have resigned from the previous political party.

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