Africa-Press – Kenya. The fate of besieged Jubilee Party secretary general Jeremiah Kioni now lies with the party’s internal dispute resolution committee.
This is after the Political Parties Tribunal declined to quash NEC’s resolution that installed EALA MP Kanini Kega as his replacement.
In its judgment delivered on April 16, the tribunal said that the notice for the National Executive Committee meeting issued on February 2 and the subsequent NEC meeting on February 10 which imposed Kega was done in accordance with the party Constitution.
In issuing the ruling, the tribunal said Kioni failed to first seek a resolution of the dispute regarding the NEC meeting before the Party’s Internal Dispute Resolution Committee (IDRC).
“In the upshot, we decline the invitation to issue a declaration of invalidity of the notice issued by the interested party dated February 2, 2023, the agenda, resolutions and letter dated February 10, 2023,” the tribunal ruled.
However, the tribunal held that a letter by the Registrar of Political Parties dated February 13 that recognised the installation of Kega as the new SG was in breach of the law.
It said the Registrar failed to act in accordance with the Political Parties Act which requires that a matter that is before a party’s internal dispute resolution mechanism be heard and determined first before she issues any directives.
The tribunal said the Registrar’s decision to recognise Kega’s leadership while a dispute over the same was active before the party’s internal organ was procedurally unfair and she did not allow the appellants a reasonable opportunity to be heard.
“Apart from purporting to consider the legality of the meeting in a manner that we have found to be unfair and violated the legitimate expectations of the appellants, the respondent was quiet on all other aspects of compliance with the PPA,” the tribunal said.
It said in doing so, the Registrar contravened Section 34(1)(a) of the PPA and Article 47 of the Constitution.
“Consequently, we find that the respondent’s letter dated February 13, 2023, was in breach of the law and we respond to this issue in the affirmative.
Kioni had appealed the decision of the NEC meeting held at Sarova Woodlands Hotel in Nakuru alongside party vice chairperson David Murathe and Treasurer Kagwe Gichohi.
The Office of the Registrar of Political Parties and interested party Joshua Kutuny, who authored the letter to the Registrar, were listed as respondents.
The decision of the tribunal not to quash the resolutions of the Nakuru meeting means that Kioni remains suspended as Jubilee party secretary general until the IDRM process is completed.
The Registrar will only be able to act on the matter after the IDRM process has been completed.
In the event that the IDRM rules against him, Kioni will have the right to appeal the decision before the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal.
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