Promising prospects in Africa’s regulation of political parties as @ORPPKenya convenes the 2nd formal conference of the proposed African Association of Political Party Regulatory Authorities (AAPPRA), 27th to 29th April 2026 in Nairobi.
The conference brought together Registrars of Political Parties in Kenya, Malawi, and Sierra Leone. The engagement seeks to formally establish a joint working regulatory approach premised on the theme “Towards Inclusive and Accountable Political Party Systems: Strengthening Regulation and Regional Collaboration in Africa.
The Registrar J.C. Lorionokou speaking at the onset of the forum termed the meet up essential -“This common approach, which will bring more countries, will bring positive change in Africa’s democratic systems and institutions to better serve the people”.
“This is a good opportunity to reflect together as continental peers on how to improve political parties’ processes. The country’s leadership stems from political parties”, the Registrar said as he appreciated his predecessor and technical teams for the initiative.
“We must keep sharing the good institutional practices such as those of ORPP to strengthen democracy and impact in our respective countries and the African continent”, said Kizito Tenthani, the Registrar of Political Parties, Malawi.
In attendance were Assistant Registrar of Political Parties, CPA Florence Birya, CS Agatha Wahome, and senior ORPP officials, who shared Kenya’s model of political party funding, digitalization of political party regulation, regulatory governance as per legal framework among other areas of discussion.
The conference will culminate in the signing of an MoU by the three Registrars. The collaboration is to be modelled around governance, funding of political parties, digitalization of processes, promotion of special interest groups, and conflict management
The AAPPRA was mooted by the former Registrar Ann Nderitu (Now Commissioner at IEBC) which was designed to progressively provide a common peer learning and exchange avenue amongst political parties’ regulatory authorities in Africa.
The shaping of the Association has been on the cards for some years, with this forum planning commencing late last year. It was jointly planned by a technical team from the three countries, with partner support of the Christian Democratic International Center(KIC), European Network of Political Foundations (ENoP), jointly implementing the Political Parties Project under the European Union.