• Disgruntled parties at mercy of internal dispute mechanisms in efforts to quit.
• ORPP says they have no mandate after a coalition political party is registered and deposited.
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The more than 25 political parties of Azimio La Umoja could be caught between the rock and hard place should any contemplate abandoning the coalition party.
The outfits will have to be in the formation headed by ODM leader Raila Odinga and President Uhuru Kenyatta at least three months after the August 9 election.
The coalition agreement provides that no member of the coalition can quit six months before the election and that such a window would only be opened three months after the polls.
Even so, any party that intends to leave must give the Coalition Council – the second-highest decision-making organ, a 90-day notice of the move.
The Azimio deal means that members of the coalition will have to explore internal procedures for exiting the outfit.
The difficulties came to the fore recently after the Office of Registrar of Political Parties rejected a request by the Maendeleo Chap Chap and Pamoja African Alliance to leave the Azimio coalition.
Some MCC officials on April 27 wrote to the registrar seeking to be allowed to exit Azimio. Sources aware of the intrigues say the party is uncomfortable with party zoning.
“We believe that our partners are not open in the zoning plan. We feel there is a lot being done under the table at the expense of our input on the same,” the source said.
MCC said the agreement was signed by unauthorised persons and that there was no NDC to endorse the agreement.
They also claimed that the National Executive Council did not resolve to enter Azimio La Umoja.
PAA said the party’s NEC did not ratify the coalition agreement and that they resolved to join a coalition, not a coalition party.
But in a letter to MCC, Registrar of Political Parties Anne Nderitu said the Political Parties Act, 2022 and the Azimio La Umoja coalition agreement bar the constituent parties from such haphazard withdrawal.
She said the provisions of the Third Schedule of the Political Parties Act and the Azimio Coalition Agreement stipulate the procedure for a party to either join or exit the coalition.
“Azimio is already a registered coalition political party in terms of Section 7 (7) of the Political Parties Act, 2011 and the Political Parties (Registration) Regulations, 2019, hence the registrar has no mandate to sanction the withdrawal,” Nderitu said in separate letters to PAA and MCC.
She said her office can only come in “where the due process outlined in the coalition agreement has been followed.” Nderitu informed Azimio of the concern for their “response and any action.”
Members of the Wiper party, which has also been threatening to quit Azimio, admitted the difficulties in pulling out of the coalition, the courts are no alternative for recourse either.
“Political problems require political solutions. Yes, one can go to court but there must be a very good reason for you to go to court.
“We are in a deal guided by utmost good faith. We leave it to fate – political fate,” Makueni MP Daniel Maanzo said.
The Third Schedule of the parties’ law provides that a coalition agreement spells “the process and mechanism upon which the coalition agreement may be amended”.
A coalition agreement also spells the dispute resolution mechanisms and procedures and the enforcement and sanction for breach of any of the provisions of the agreement.
In what reduces to an internal party affair, an agreement should also state the grounds upon which the coalition may be dissolved including mechanisms and procedures to be followed.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)