•The registrar has received 31 applications
•But only three have received the provisional registration certificates
Image: Douglas Okiddy
It is about three years to the 2022 General Election, but the office of the Registrar of Political Parties is already a beehive of activities.
Kenyans are thronging the offices seeking to preserve party names and register new ones ahead of the polls.
Acting Registrar Anne Nderitu says her office has received at least 31 registration application in the last one year.
Out of the 31, only three have qualified for provisional registration. These are Civil Renewal Party (CRP), United Green Movement (UGM) and Umoja Summit Party (USP).
“The three parties have already received provisional registration. They are now in the final lap of full registration but they have not finished.” Nderitu said.
Application for reservation of CRP was made on February 18, 2018, and the proposed party was provisionally registered on November 14, 2018.
Political Parties Act of 2011 stipulates that a party that has been provisionally registered must apply for full registration within 180 days of the date of provisional registration. This implies that individuals behind CRP have until May 14 to apply for full registration.
The registrar received an application for reservation of UGM on November 9, 2018, and its owners were issued with provisional registration certificate on November 26, 2018. The name USP, on the other hand, was reserved on May 31, 2018, and was provisionally registered on November 14, 2018, pending full registration.
The remaining 28 applicants, the registrar said, only sought for reservation of the names. They are yet to meet conditions for provisional and full registration, begging the question; are the conditions set out for the formation of parties in the Act too tough?
Institute of Education in Democracy executive director and former Election Observer Group Steering chairman Brian Weke says PPA is stringent on the procedure, and the registration threshold is high under the law.
He argues that this did away with the ‘village and briefcase’ parties that were run by individuals rather than structures.
“We are coming from a position where people had village parties. We had over 100 parties before this law was enacted,” he says.
“PPA has a threshold on the registration of parties and we made it a little bit hard so that not everybody owns a party. This was the only way of dealing with briefcase parties,” he said.
Section 7 of the PPA Act stipulates that a provisionally registered party shall be fully registered if it has recruited at least 1,000 voters as members from each of the more than half of the 47 counties.
The law further stipulates that a list of the names of the members complete with ID numbers and addresses must also be deposited with the registrar.
“Those recruited must reflect regional and ethnic diversity, gender balance and representation of special interest groups,” the Act reads in part.
The composition of the governing units of the parties must also reflect, ethnic and gender balance. The party must also have a head office with a physical address. It must also branch offices in at least 24 counties.
The conditions, according to political observers, are too tough even for seasoned parties such as ODM and Kanu.
“I really don’t think some of the existing parties have offices in at least 24 counties as required in law. I highly doubt. Do you think ODM has any offices in Mt Kenya?” Herman Manyora, a political analyst, posed.
Manyora said PPA is a deterrent to selfish politicians who have for years used political parties as money-making ventures.
Currently, there are 66 registered parties in the country. However, only the ruling Jubilee Party and Raila Odinga’s 12-year ODM qualify for the political parties fund provided for in the Act. The fund is based on the number of seats a party wins and votes cast for the candidates.
According to analysts, a number of factors are motivating Kenyans to form parties in the run-up to the elections.
Weke says most of those pushing for the formation of new parties are those who collapsed their outfits to form Jubilee in 2017.
“A lot of people were hoodwinked into folding their parties and joining Jubilee,” he says.
Governance expert Javas Bigambo said those rushing to form parties will use them as fishing nets.
“When you look at the legal and even policy framework guiding politics and political parties in Kenya, you realise we have got no will or mechanism of enforcement on how they are supposed to run their affairs,” he said.
“The other thing that guides or propels individuals to establish political parties is that they look at these parties as avenues for recognition and identity,” he says.
APPLICATION FOR RESERVATION OF PARTY NAMES
No Name Abbreviation
1 . Party of Economic Democracy PED
2. Golden Alliance Party GAP
3. National Rebirth Party NRP
4. Kenya Democracy for Change KDC
5. Digital Kenya Party DKP
6. Democratic Action Party of Kenya DAP-K
7. National Reconstruction Alliance NRA
8. Diversity and Peace Party of Kenya DPPK
9. Eco Party EP
10. Tumaini Party of Kenya TPK
11. Jamii Party of Kenya JPK
12. African Development Congress ADC
13. Ushirika wa Haki na Maendeleo UHM
14. Usawa Kenya Party UKP
15. Ideal Democratic and Economic Party IDEP
16. All Kenyan Alliance AKA
17. Congress for Democratic Change Party Kenya CDCPK
18. One Kenya Movement OKM
19. Nyayo za Umoja Party NUP
20. Jambo Democratic Union JDU
21. Forum for Democratic Consolidation FDC
22. Develop and Unite Kenya Party DUKP
23. The Equalization Party of Kenya TEPK
24. National Ordinary People’s Empowerment Union NOPEU
25. Daraja ya Kenya Party DPK
26. Unified Change Party UCP
27. National Development Party NDP
28. Transformation National Alliance Party TNAP