Eva Nyambura
Political Parties Dispute Tribunal has thrown out an application by Maendeleo Chap Chap seeking to exit the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Alliance.
The court on Tuesday said the Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua-led entity should have sought alternative internal dispute resolution mechanisms before taking the legal route.
The party had written to the Registrar of Political Parties Anne Nderitu seeking to exit the coalition party.
Nderitu, however, declined to sanction MCC and Pamoja African Alliance’s (PAA) requests until they met the withdrawal conditions.
Read: Alfred Mutua’s Maendeleo Chap Chap Signs Coalition Agreement with Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza Coalition
“Your attention is drawn to the provisions of the Third Schedule to the PPA (Political Parties Act) and the Azimio coalition agreement that stipulate the procedure for a party to either join or exit the coalition,” she told the two parties.
On April 27, a group of Maendeleo Chap Chap officials wrote to the registrar, requesting that the party be permitted to leave Azimio. They charged the party leader Mutua, with failing to follow protocol before joining the outfit.
“The party leader is not one of the signatories in signing agreements,” they told Nderitu, adding that the party had not held a special delegates conference before pledging their support for Azimio.
In response, Nderitu said, “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) Regulation, 2019, hence the Registrar has no mandate to sanction the withdrawal as per your request, save for where due process outlined in the coalition agreement has been followed.”
Read Also: Governors Alfred Mutua, Amason Kingi-led Parties Set to Join Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza
No constituent party can exit the Azimio coalition for at least a year, the agreement stipulates. It also provides that no party can leave the alliance until at least six months before the General Election.
A coalition party member who wants to leave will have to wait at least three months after the elections to do so.
Even then, a member who desires to leave must give a 90-day notice to the Coalition Council, which will be the coalition party’s second-highest organ.
Both PAA and MCC which decamped to DP William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza alliance on Monday have allegedly been denied a copy of the agreement.
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