A season of briefcase parties as 220 new applications are lodged

The season of briefcase political parties and brokers is here politicians, their acolytes and wheeler dealers are flocking the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties to craft new outfits.

Already, 220 applications have been lodged and 42 names reserved which if the registrar was to okay all would more than triple the number of new parties.

Add this to the current 90 registered parties, the number could easily rise to 352.

This clamour to register political parties two years to the 2027 General Election is unprecedented.

Two-and-a-half years to the 2027 General Election, the registrar's office is a hive of activity as political leaders -- through their allies -- seek to comply with the Political Parties Act, to enable them obtain certificates that will be key to political alignments as the country enters into an electioneering mood.

While others are seeking to register political parties, others want to change party officials or rebrand and change their party constitutions, symbols and colours.

Former Justice Minister Martha Karua’s Narc Kenya, which successfully changed its name to the People’s Liberation Party (PLP) to reflect a generational shift in party leadership, is seeking to align with the ‘aspirations of young people.’

READ: Youth register a new political party, recruitment drive ahead

The stampede to the registrar's office is happening at a time when former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua is expected to unveil a new political vehicle, which he claims would be used to make William Ruto a one-term president.

Last week, Gachagua assured his supporters that he would this month announce a political vehicle, after falling out with President Ruto after his impeachment late last year. However, the former Number Two is barred from contesting in the elections courtesy of the impeachment, and he is racing against time to overturn the removal in court.

According to the Registrar of Political Parties Ann Nderitu, 42 political parties are in the process of registration, seven parties are under review, 11 parties have been issued with provisional certificates while three have applied for full registration after ccomplying with regulations.

“The 220 application for reservation of names have occurred within the last six months, and they are increasing by the day. We have never witnessed such numbers in the recent past. By 2022, there had only 90 political parties,” Nderitu told The Sunday Standard. 

She noted that 20 million Kenyans were members of the registered political parties.

The registrar, however, said that not all parties reach the final stages as some fail to comply with Section 8 of the Political Parties Act that guides their choice of names and slogans.

The law spells out the circumstances under which the registrar may refuse an application, including if the name, abbreviation, slogan or chosen symbol is obscene or offensive, or if the name is an abbreviation of another registered party.

While explaining why she turned down an application to register the ‘Gen Z’ party, Nderitu said it failed to attain the threshold of inclusivity as provided for in Article 91 of the Act on the basic requirement of political parties.

“The proposed registration of the party did not have a national character and focused only with the youth, disregarding the existence of other age groups who must be represented. Parties can’t promote sectionalism and regionalism, and that is among the problems we face as a section of Kenyans even come to seek to register a party for women and for their communities,” she said.

Nderitu said one of the major challenges facing those seeking to register parties is attaining 24,000 members in 24 counties, thanks to the integrated political parties management system that she noted had eliminated the stealing of data to attain the threshold.

“Parties used to recruit manually, but in 2021, we launched an enhanced integrated political Parties management system to protect Kenyans' data from being used by political parties without their consent.”

READ: New political outfit takes on ruling party and 'lax' opposition

“One cannot register as a party member twice, while those with mobile phones will always be prompted whenever their names are about to be added to a political party register. For manual registration, those seeking to register a party must include a consent form and with the personal details of the targeted member,” said Nderitu.

She said the system was ‘a very serious game-changer in terms of a data protection, adding that the systems allow transparency, accessibility and easy processing of data, which also makes it easy for political parties to access the system for data processing.

At the same time, Nderitu observed that there were some ‘loose ends’ in the operations and governance of the political parties, saying there was need for the outfits to promote inclusivity in decision-making, including incorporating more women and youth in apex organs.

On claims that most of the political outfits were personality-oriented, she said although the parties are not individually centred in structure and form, failure by members to voluntarily contribute for their growth created room for a few members to fund them and hence more say.

“When parties do not have enough funds, how much do members contribute to so as to have the moral authority to ask proper questions? This is because challenging those who ensure the daily running of operations is an uphill task,” she added.

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At the same time, Nderitu called for the anchoring of her office in the Constitution, either as an independent office or as a commission even as she called for the amendment of the various laws to provide clarity on overlapping issues between her office and that of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

“We should have a clear way of knowing the extent that the Office of Registrar Political Parties can go in terms of party nominations, as the law says the office should supervise all political activities whereas article 88 states that IEBC supervises nominations,” she added.