Politicians rush to register parties ahead of 2022 election
Registrar of Political Parties Ann Nderitu addresses a meeting by the Center for Multi-party Democracy (CMD-Kenya) at the Hilton hotel in Nairobi on December 21, 2020.
What you need to know:
- Registrar of Political Parties Ann Nderitu says her office has received at least 1,000 applications for the reservation of names of political outfits.
- The registrar explained that prior to application for full registration, a party must have been provisionally registered.
Three more political parties are in the process of registering to join a crowded field of political parties ahead of the General Election in 2022.
Registrar of Political Parties Ann Nderitu says her office has received at least 1,000 applications for the reservation of names of political outfits.
Currently, there are 71 fully-registered political parties in the country while another nine have attained provisional registration status.
Ms Nderitu said officials will, from Monday, embark on a five-day physical verification exercise of three interim parties to ascertain their readiness for full registration.
The three provisionally registered outfits are Party for Peace and Democracy (PPD), Unified Change Party (UCP) and Democratic Action Party-Kenya (DAP-K).
They qualified for the inspection phase upon provisional registration and presentation of their applications for full registration to the registrar on November 17, 2020, December 16, 2020 and January 11, 2021, respectively.
Requirements
The verification exercise, to be conducted by the Office of Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP), is scheduled to take place between January 25 and 29.
Already, teams from the ORPP have been sent to regions including the Coast, Upper Eastern, Lower Eastern, Rift Valley, South Nyanza, Western and Central.
The exercise will check office locations and addresses and proof of recruiting at least 24,000 registered voters as members in more than half of the 47 counties.
It will also assess evidence of governance and administrative policies as well as the other requirements stated in section 7 of the Political Parties Act (PPA), 2011.
“We remain vigilant in ensuring political parties adhere to [all] registration requirements before full registration, as obligated by the PPA. Those that qualify must abide by all compliance obligations as corporate entities, including demonstrating inclusive policies and entrenching good governance practices,” said Ms Nderitu.
Provisional registration
The registrar explained that prior to application for full registration, a party must have been provisionally registered.
The conditions for provisional registration, which are submitted and scrutinised by the registrar, include payment of a Sh100,000 fee, approval of the name and party symbol and the submission of signed minutes of founding members.
The parties must also have a constitution and sign an undertaking to be bound by the Political Parties’ Code of Conduct.
"The outcome of this exercise will determine whether these parties will proceed to the process of full registration. A party is issued with a certificate of full registration within 30 days of meeting the conditions of full registration," she said.
