by Ngala Joshua
Nairobi Kenya, Tuesday September 20, 2016
The Registrar of Political Parties has today issued a procedure for expelling members of political parties who violate the law.
This guideline comes at a wake of complaints from the public requesting that some members of a political party be deemed to have resigned by their actions.
The Political Parties Act provides that a party member may only be expelled for contravening the party constitution, and after being accorded a fair hearing in accordance with internal dispute resolution mechanisms.
“A member of a political party may therefore be deemed to have resigned upon a resolution of the national executive committee of the political party”, Said Lucy Ndungu. “The ‘deemer’ is a political party that must follow the established law for expulsion”.
Whenever the Registrar receives a complaint from any person requesting that a member of a political party be deemed to have resigned, the Registrar shall assess whether the complaint is justified or not.
If justified the Registrar may make a declaration based on sufficient grounds for the person to be deemed to have resigned. The Registrar shall dismiss insufficient complaint and inform the complainant of the decision.
Where the Registrar is of the opinion that there is a reasonably justifiable cause, the Registrar shall notify the person so complained of and the political party he is a member to.
Such a party is therefore required it to, within seven days of the notification, constitute a national executive committee to consider whether or not the member can be deemed to have resigned, and to notify the Registrar accordingly.
The Political Parties Act also provides for the procedures of resignation of party members.
