12 November 2026: At Bunge Towers, Parliament of Kenya, Nairobi, the Registrar and team had a fruitful engagement with the Senate Standing Committee on Cohesion, Equal Opportunity and Regional Integration. The team gave a comprehensive status brief of ORPP’s state of preparedness for the 2027 general election and the state of inclusion in the execution of its mandate.
The Registrar, J.C. Lorionokou, in his brief, outlined various milestones such as;
Review of 105 Party Nomination Rules.- Training/engagement of political parties, Election Boards, Dispute Resolution Committees and other governing organs.
- Development/review of training materials.
- Finalisation of amendments to the Political Parties Act (PPA).
- Commencement of recruitment of monitors,
- Process automation, among others.
“The ORPP is well on course to deliver its role in elections as per the Election Plan amidst financial and human constraints”, said the Registrar as he called on Parliament to intervene on highlighted challenges.
The Registrar and team also responded to varied areas of discussion raised by Committee members, including the Office’s state of inclusion in staffing and opportunities, mechanisms to reform party nominations, Office funding deficits, partial automation of key party processes, fluid shifting of party loyalty by its officials and a raft of other political parties’ registration and compliance conditionalities.
“The political parties, through their internal governance organs and leaders, citizens and all duty bearers, all have a critical responsibility of ensuring democracy is not theoretical but gives value to the country and Kenyans. The ORPP will continue to objectively and independently operate within the confines of the Constitution and the enabling laws” the Registrar informed, as he clarified on cited issues by the Committee members on recent party registration and reservation of particulars.
“It is our undertaking to support ORPP to expedite the amendments to PPA and resource gaps as pleaded”, said the Committee Senate Chairperson Chute Mohamed Said, as he observed the need for serious reforms on deeming clauses in the PPA.
The Committee lauded the ORPP for the comprehensive report.
“I laud the Registrar and team of experts for a well-thought-out report, and the well-laid responses given to this Committee”, Sen. Consolata Nabwire Wakwabubi lauded, as she called for structural reforms in party nomination processes to enhance gender and other interest groups’ inclusion.
In appreciating the Committee, the Registrar also urged political party members to build self-awareness of party processes to hold their parties accountable.
”Parties should endeavour to present nominees to various elective positions with a fair chance to attain the targeted elective positions. This is one of the practical ways to scale up representation and enhance inclusion of the often underrepresented interest groups”, said the Registrar as he noted the Office’s continuous public education across varied outreach platforms.
Present in the engagement was a section of heads of department, who handled key issues raised under their dockets.