More than six months since President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party signed a cooperation agreement with Wiper and Chama Cha Mashinani (CCM), the Office of Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP) is yet to get a copy of the deal, Nation has established.
This is despite the three parties acknowledging that it is mandatory that the registrar’s office be furnished with a copy to legitimise the cooperation and also safeguard it from “foreseeable” legal challenges.
Although Registrar of Political Parties (RPP) Anne Nderitu was not available for a comment, sources at her office confided to Nation that the document is yet to be deposited with her office as required.
“What happened is that some individuals from the Jubilee Party came here (registrar’s office) with a prototype of the cooperation agreement for ascertainment on whether it meets that standards of political parties cooperation,” says a source at the registrar’s office, who did not want to be quoted.
“We looked at it and gave them the go ahead to proceed and though they promised to bring it back immediately for safe custody once done, we are yet to see it. We do not even know the contents of the document and its legitimacy can be challenged in court,” the source added.
The deal was signed on June 17, 2020, at the Jubilee Party secretariat in the city’s Pangani area.
Jubilee Party was represented by its Chairman Nelson Dzuya, Vice Chairman David Murathe and Secretary-General Raphael Tuju.
Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka and Vice Chairman Mutula Kilonzo Junior and CCM’s leader and former Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto were also present.
The pact that saw Wiper and CCM pledge to “fully” support President Kenyatta’s agenda for the country in his last term in office, was preceded by a similar one involving Baringo Senator Gideon Moi’s KANU and Jubilee Party.
Both Wiper and CCM are members of the National Super Alliance (Nasa) alongside Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang’ula’s Ford Kenya.
The Nasa parties supported ODM leader Raila Odinga’s bid for presidency in the August 8, 2017 presidential election.
The details of the pacts have never been revealed despite Wiper’s National Executive Committee (NEC) giving its leader the green light to start coalition talks with the ruling party.
“Our main intention is to form a coalition agreement with the Jubilee Party. We have no doubts in our minds of the direction we have taken,” Mr Kalonzo said at the time.
But yesterday, Mr Tuju downplayed the requirement of having the pact deposited with the registrar’s office.
“It is just a memorandum of understanding on matters of common interest that allows the parties to work with us. Depositing the agreement with the registrar’s office has the implication of forcing Wiper and CCM to withdraw from Nasa,” Mr Tuju said.
However, Governance expert Barasa Nyukuri disagreed saying that it was necessary that the registrar of political parties be the custodian of the document.
“If the pact is not with the registrar’s office it means that she is not aware of its existence,” says Mr Nyukuri.
“The interpretation of section 14 (4) of the Political Parties Act, makes it illegal for one to advance the interests of another party in a deal that is foreign to the registrar’s office. In such scenarios, the only thing to do is resign from your party,” he adds.
The signing of the cooperation agreement was widely seen as laying the support base for an impending referendum to amend the 2010 constitution.
This came as a faction in the Jubilee Party allied to Deputy President William Ruto appeared to drift away from the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) that is driving the constitutional amendment.
According to the Nasa coalition agreement, the coalition shall stand dissolved either at the end of the life of the current parliament or if three partners formally write to the registrar’s office announcing their disengagement.
Mr Odinga has previously unequivocally said that the coalition could be existing on paper when he admitted that its main objective was to form the government.
But because it did not form the government, according to Mr Odinga, every party was free to chart its political course ahead of the 2022 polls.
ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi on the other hand has been clear that his party will not pull out of the coalition.
