A sensitization meeting on political parties preparedness for the 2022 general election was held on the 10th and 11th February, 2022 at Crowne Plaza, Nairobi, a session supported by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance International (IDEA). Top focus of deliberations were; amendments to the Political Parties Act, coalitions/ coalition political party; mergers guidelines and upgrade of Integrated Political Parties Management System (IPPMS) among others. Political parties to keenly take note of applicable timelines on various processes and adhere for the same. For instance, submission of party lists should be done by 26th March, 2022, submission of coalition agreement for registration of a coalition political party by 9th April, 2022 while agreement for pre-coalition registration is by 8th May, 2022.
Others pertinent to political parties request for certified register for nominations should be at least 21 days before the date of nominations whose deadline for conduct is 22nd April, 2022. “The coalition party operations will be determined by the coalition agreement which include; parties in the coalition political party, overall and general organizational structure; nomination rules including electoral positions and electoral areas where a coalition political party intends to field candidates; sharing of funds and dispute resolution. Further, the agreements should be duly executed by authorized officials signed and commissioned vide statutory forms provided”, guided Wafula Wakoko ORPP legal officer.
ORPP Legal Officer, Wafula Wakoko makes his presentation to party leaders officials.
Participants were further guided on steps in managing political parties mergers in line with checklist developed. Requisite documentation that includes; rules and procedures of each of the political party entering into a merger that include; a notice convening the meeting where the resolution was made; merger agreement should indicate name, abbreviation, symbol, colours and slogan of the new political parties or existing party that is merged into were highlighted. An ideology of the new party, procedure for the formulation of the governing body for the merged political parties, records, assets and liabilities, rights and obligations of all the dissolved political parties, of forming political party including their entitlement of the Political Parties Fund under section 25 of the Act were also spelt out. Different modules of the Integrated Political Parties Management System (IPPMS), a web-based that is ORPP-developed and used in managing political parties’ records and providing a self-service avenue by authorized political parties’ were appraised. Some latest functionality to upgrade the IPPMS is availing a public address (ippms.orpp.or.ke) and enlisting bulk SMS service as notification to parties as well as sms alerts to individuals to grant consent on recruitment as members done through the system.
“These improvements are meant have IPPMS technologically responsive to emerging technologies, provide service convenience with minimum human intervention”, noted Robert Waithaka in his presentation. Registrar assured of safety of database and commitment of ORPP openness on its operations including data held ‘’The membership data is safe and secure and ORPP will continue to improve ICT systems for the benefit of political parties and all citizens based on valuable feedback received, ‘Registrar, Ann Nderitu noted. The Registrar also highlighted of Political Education Source Book that ORPP has developed which encapsulates processes and topical areas in managing political parties. The Source Book will be pivotal reference guide in conducting a series of public education that the Office will embark on. Assistant Registrar in charge of Compliance and Regulation, Ali A.Surraw noted that ORPP will continue supporting political parties through its regulatory role. He called on the need for parties to ensure compliance with PPA on all aspects including clean-up of their membership register. Present during the fruitful deliberations, were over 75 party leaders.