ODM party leader Raila Odinga (left), Chepalungu MP Isaac Ruto (centre) and Dujis MP Aden Duale. Photo/FILE
By PETER LEFTIE pmutibo@ke.nationmedia.comPosted Sunday, February 27 2011 at 22:40
ODM has put in motion steps to have the party’s rebel MPs lose their seats in Parliament.
In a precedent setting move, the party wrote to the Registrar of Political Parties, Ms Lucy Ndung’u, last week asking her to find assistant minister Aden Duale and Chepalungu MP Isaac Ruto in breach of Article 17 of the Act and declare their seats vacant. (Read: PNU and ODM dig in for battle)
The relevant clause reads: “A person who, while a member of a political party - in any way or manner, publicly advocates for the formation of another political party, shall, notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (2) or the provisions of any other law, be deemed to have resigned from the previous political party.”
“I wrote to the Registrar of Political Parties last week and attached evidence to show that the rebel MPs have contravened Section 17 of the Political Parties Act.
“The letter is in respect to Honourable Duale and Isaac Ruto. We want the Registrar to declare their seats vacant. We have also asked the Prime Minister to sack Duale immediately because he cannot keep on undermining the party,” ODM chief whip Jakoyo Midiwo said.
“It is time to crack the whip. We want Raila to fire all the rebel ministers. We want to know who is with us. If you are not with us, you are against us. All the rebel MPs must go, and yesterday, not today,” a tough talking Midiwo added.
Ms Ndung’u confirmed she had received the letter. “I understand the letter is there. I was away attending a workshop for political parties in Nyeri last week and I’ve only returned today so I intend to deal with the matter tomorrow,” she said.
If she finds them guilty of breaching the Act, the Registrar shall write to the Speaker of the National Assembly asking him to declare their seats vacant.
But Tourism Minister Najib Balala scoffed at the threats to invoke the Political Parties Act saying they amounted to “dictatorship”.
“We are not shaken. Instead of issuing such threats, they should retrace their steps and find out where they went wrong.
“The era when people used to dictate to others is long gone and if they joke, we can mobilize MPs in Parliament and change that act, there is nothing hard in that,” Mr Balala dared.
“Tell them to be careful and remember that we are the ones who founded that party. The party does not belong to one community but if they joke, ODM will become a one-community party,” he went on.
Mr Ruto also laughed off the move and accused the party of dictatorship. “Party loyalty is not won by dictatorship. Let Mr Odinga learn from what is happening in the Arab world,” he said in an earlier interview.
Kuresoi MP Zakayo Cheruiyot also dared the party to go ahead and expel them from its ranks. “The only thing which will happen is that it will lose its majority, we are too prepared for such eventuality and we’ll be very glad to go back to our people for fresh mandate,” he said.
But Nominated MP Musa Sirma, one of the few MPs from North Rift who remains loyal to Mr Odinga defended the decision to discipline the errant MPs, saying it had been arrived at during a recent Parliamentary Group meeting.
Over 20 MPs, including up to five cabinet ministers, have practically cut links with the party and openly associated with the rival Party of National Unity wing of the coalition.
Suspended Higher Education Minister William Ruto is the de facto leader of the party “rebels” who include suspended industrialization minister Henry Kosgey, Dr Sally Kosgei (Agriculture), Mr Balala and Prof Hellen Sambili (East African Community)”.
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