Kingi's PAA suffers setback in bid to quit Azimio
Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi.
The Pamoja African Alliance (PAA) party associated with Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi has suffered a setback after its bid to exit the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition was thwarted by the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal (PPDT).
The PPDT ruled that the Registrar of Political Parties had lawfully discharged her mandate in gazetting PAA as a constituent party of Azimio One Kenya.
The PPDT also discharged an interim order it had issued on May 8 suspending the implementation of Kenya Gazette notice No 4442, which provides that PAA is a member of Azimio la Umoja One Kenya.
The Azimio tribunal had also ruled that as of April 25, when PAA purported to rescind its decision, it was fully registered as a constituent party of the coalition and party officials could not be said to have signed documents they were not aware of.
Ms Josephine Wairimu Kinyanjui, a member of PAA, had filed a complaint arguing that the party was erroneously listed as a constituent party of Azimio as its members had only resolved to join a coalition of political parties and not a coalition party.
The PPDT said that it was unable to assume jurisdiction to hear the dispute, saying Ms Kinyanjui had not demonstrated that the internal dispute resolution mechanisms (IDRM) of the coalition party had been pursued before she filed her complaint.
“There was no evidence adduced that the process of IDRM was pursued,” ruled the tribunal in Mombasa.
The PPDT noted that both Ms Kinyanjui and PAA admitted that there were no attempts to resolve the matter internally by Azimio.
“The Tribunal finds that no attempt was made to address the wrongful entry of PAA [into] the coalition, the tribunal is unable to assume jurisdiction. The Tribunal declines jurisdiction [in the dispute] between PAA and Azimio,” it ruled.
It ruled that PAA needed to table evidence before it that it had attempted to have the issue resolved internally before it would assume jurisdiction.
PAA had also argued that Azimio had refused to present a copy of the coalition agreement despite numerous requests.
The party wanted the tribunal to cancel the implementation of a gazette notice dated April 14 on the coalition agreement.
It argued that without ratification of the agreement by its National Executive Committee, the coalition agreement was null and void.
For its part, Azimio told the PPDT that PAA willingly executed the agreement and that the tribunal’s jurisdiction was prematurely invoked.
The Registrar of Political Parties told the PPDT that people who signed the agreement documents were signatories of the parties and that the complaint was time-barred.
