Corporate Affairs
Lion Place Nairobi, Kenya; January,14, 2020.
Political Parties with provisional registration that are seeking full registration will be required to provide verifiable evidence of their established infrastructure across the country as required by the Political Parties Act. The Office of Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP) has from 14 th to 17 th January dispatched teams in 8 regions across the country for on-ground verification exercise of the various political parties that have applied for full registration. The regions include Coast, Lower Eastern, Upper Eastern, Western, Nyanza, Rift Valley, Central and Nairobi.
The exercise seeks to verify physical presence of functional parties’ offices in at least 24 counties (the headquarters already verified), party leadership, personnel responsible in respective offices, mechanisms for recruitment of members, membership register, party constitutions, party activities, policy framework and administrative structures among other raft of legal stipulations. These are some of the stringent requirements for consideration for approval to full registration status. The requirements are complement to Constitutional requirements for formation of political parties which should have a national outlook.
The verification is part of ORPP commitment of ensuring political parties are established for posterity and capable of actualising their set out ideologies and as key avenues for the citizens political participation and inclusivity in the democratic process, the Registrar Ann Nderitu said while kick-starting
the exercise on 13 th January at the ORPP Offices in Nairobi. “As an Office we continue to shift our processes to ensure that the registration of political parties is geared towards institutionalising political parties as citadels for democracy”, Registrar said. She further informed that the ORPP has already established 7 regional offices in Kisumu, Eldoret, Nyeri, Isiolo, Mombasa, Nakuru and Kitui not just for monitoring parties for compliance but taking
service closer to the people as well an opportunity for political parties and their members to seek guidance and services required of the Office. The Office will endeavour to expand to other regions and progressively to all the counties, Registrar added.
On conclusion of the exercise, consolidated reports will thoroughly be scrutinized to ascertain the compliance status of the political parties in question. They will further, be guided accordingly in case gaps are identified with a view of ensuring full compliance prior to registration.
To date, there are sixty eight (68) fully registered political parties, twelve (12) provisionally registered, of which majority are subject of verification during the exercise to ascertain compliance.