First coalition political party registered in new law

Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition Party is now a fully registered political party comprising of 26 fully registered political parties according to its coalition agreement deposited and evaluated. The party was issued by the Registrar of Political Parties a certificate of full registration signed by the Registrar on 21^st April, 2022.This follows ORPP’s assessment of its deposited coalition agreement and found compliant with provisions of section 10 of Political Parties Act, 2011 and Political Parties (Registration) Regulations, 2019.“ Upon receiving of the coalition agreement and documents specified…, the Registrar shall scrutinize the documents deposited and if satisfied that the coalition agreement is in accordance with the PPA and the party constitutions or rules, issue a letter confirming that the coalition has complied with the Act..” reads section 21 (2) of the Parties’ Registration Regulations.

Designated coalition officials deposited the coalition agreement within the timeline of 1^st of April, 2022 during which the Registrar offered the requisite preliminary guidance in line with a pre-coalition checklist developed by ORPP and validated by political parties. The certification to the coalition grants the coalition party rights of a fully registered political parties including nomination of candidates for election under its name.

“The requirements for a coalition agreement are provided under the Third Schedule to the Political Parties Act, 2011. These include dispute resolution mechanisms, amendment of the coalition agreement and parameters of exiting or joining a coalition”, Registrar, Ann Nderitu on 7^th May, 2022 guided the parties on the overall subject of making of coalition agreements.

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Busia County political parties and stakeholder meeting

The consultative forum held on 28th April was organised by ORPP Kisumu Office. The meeting brought together 38 participants, drawn from Political Parties, IEBC, inter faith based organisations, Civil Society Organisations, the county Government, National Government, media and ORPP. The forum was held at Farm View Hotel.

ORPP Kisumu officer Lucy Kemunto moderated the introduction session. The main objective of the meeting was to deliberate on election preparedness matters ahead of the upcoming general elections and to strengthen and build capacity for political parties in Busia County and Kenya at large.

Deputy County Commissioner Mr, Ruto making his presentation

Various presentations with regards to election preparedness were made by relevant stakeholders from:

1. The Office of the Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP) who talked about the role of ORPP in elections and promotion of peace in Kenya and the amendment to the PPA.
2. Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) presented on the role of IEBC in management of Political Parties Nomination/Election rules, Party lists and gazetted timelines ahead of the General Elections.
3. Assistant County Commissioner (ACC) talked about Busia County preparedness to the forthcoming General election and peace within the county.
4. Busia County Police Commander  who tackeld on issues regarding to security in relation to elections. He called on the parties to avoid goons and noted that police will not tolerate any goons. He called on the party

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Record set as over 7,000 independent hopefuls cleared by deadline

The Office of the Registrar of Political Parties has deadline of the 2^nd May,2022 cleared a total of 7,177 independent candidates to run for six elective positions. This marked over 64% rise in the numbers compared to the 2017 general election where 4648 independents were cleared. Those seeking to run as presidential candidates and Member of County Assembly rose sharply with the positions registering a total of 49 and 5,802 persons cleared respectively. Other positions included County Governor-105; Senatorial-150; County Woman Member to the National Assembly-108 and Member of National Assembly-963.

This fete was realised by a dedicated assigned ORPP personnel designated in teams with support of security and contracted personnel. They worked through the period beyond working hours and spared their weekend and holidays to process increased numbers especially in the last two weeks to the deadline. A dedicated service was designated at Westlands Primary School hall effectively serve the surging numbers. “We appreciate and acknowledge dedication and sacrifice that we have witnessed including helping out tech-challenged persons to this process: noted an applicant at Westlands Primary hall. Through the process, team assigned were on hand to give daily briefings and resolve in possible means any outstanding concerns. “It is our assurance that all applicants will be processed within stipulated timelines withservice delivery efficiency the ORPP is proud of”, assured Assistant Registrar, Ali Surraw on his visit to assess progress at Westlands primary hall.

In amendment to the Political Parties Act, 2011, in section 34 (fa,fb) mandates the Registrar to ; certify that an independent candidate in an election is not a member of any political party and the symbol intend ended to be used by the candidate  does not resemble the symbol of a registered political party. This is further anchored in Article 85 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 and Elections Act, 2011 prescribing the eligibility to stand as an independent candidate including not being a member of a registered political party at least 3 months immediately before the date of election.On clearance, persons were required to present submitted of the certified symbol and letter of intent to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) for approval and eventual gazettement of successful names and symbols by 9^th May, 2022.

Applications for clearance as independent candidates began in February 2022 initially with manual application before the roll-out an online self service web-based system pegged on the Integrated Political Parties Management System (IPPMS, that was accessible till deadline through a portal: https://ippms.orpp.or.ke . The online  application platform contained features such as user registration, digital or online invoicing, online payment through M-Pesa, short message service (SMS) status notification to the applicant on each stage and interim clearance certificate on processing.

"We developed the independent candidates self service system to effectively manage the process and of the numbers we anticipated to e high from the start. The system also ensures that the process is professional, fair, and legitimate. Once they complete the registration in the portal, the system verifies and generates a certificate which we sign and give them," said Ms Nderitu in a media interview with a local television at the close of the exercise.

To improve the process, the assigned team collated valuable feedback from the applicants and stakeholders including staff and neighbouring community. The exercise report will also be consolidated as a record to the momentous exercise as well as inform policy and administrative interventions in Office subsequent interventions on the subject.

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Meru County Special Interest Groups (SIGS) forum

In an effort to reach out to the special interest groups within Meru county, The Isiolo Regional Office organized a half day forum in Meru county on the 28th of April 2022 at Alba Hotel.The focus of the training forum was on the youth, women, people living with disability and minorities within the county. As such, participants were drawn from these categories of people.

Among the stakeholders present was the Deputy County Commissioner (DCC) North Imenti Madam Odilliah Ndeti representing Meru County Commissioner. The IEBC was represented by Mr. William Wambugu the IEBC Meru County Elections Manager. There was also representation of several political parties which included DEP, UDA, Jubilee, NOPEU, Safina, MCC, Wiper and PNU party and independent candidates.

Among key presentations that were made were on: elective positions and their respective qualifications, electoral timelines and how to manage election outcomes, the political party’s code of conduct and managing political parties conflicts and National Gender & equality commission in relation to gender equality and inclusivity in elections as well as violence against women in elections.

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