Political Tribunal reverts Nairobi Minority position case to UDA party
The pending case between two factions within the ruling United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party in the Nairobi County Assembly has been referred to the party’s internal dispute resolution mechanism for solution.
The Political Parties Disputes Tribunal (PPDT) has ruled that the complainants, Anthony Karanja Kiragu and Mark Mugambi, failed to exhaust the available dispute resolution mechanism with the party.
In October last year, embattled Minority Leader Kiragu and Minority Whip Mugambi petitioned the tribunal seeking an order restraining the party from forcing them out of office.
This is after the party confirmed the collection of signatures for the removal of two leaders and named Nairobi South MCA Ms Waithera Chege as the Minority Leader and Joyce Muthoni as the Minority Whip. This decision was revised later after PPDT issued orders stopping the party from effecting the changes until the case filed is heard and determined.
The two complainants had also argued before the tribunal that the declaration from the UDA party to remove them from their party positions was unlawful and prejudicial.
However, the tribunal ruled that it lacked the jurisdiction to determine the matter since the applicants did not exhaust the party mechanisms as directed by Article 40 (2) of the Political Parties Act, 2011, which states that the decision cannot be determined unless the dispute has been heard and determined by the internal political party dispute resolution mechanisms.
“In this case, we believe that there was good faith on the part of both Complainants and the Respondents to invoke party processes to resolve the dispute at hand. We will, therefore, down our tools, refrain from making a merit determination on the matter and allow the parties to attempt IDRM through the UDA IDRM systems; and should these fail, we shall, indeed, take up the matter,” the tribunal.
The tribunal also stated that there was no enough evidence from the applicants accusing the party’s internal dispute mechanism was not effective.
“He who alleges must prove. We have not been shown any proof that the UDA party IDRM processes was either non-existent, compromised or ineffective. In fact, what we have seen in a clear effort by the party to intervene in this matter, that is, really, a political question.”
The attempt by UDA Chairperson Celily Mbarire, and Secretary General Mr Cleophas Malala to unite both worrying parties failed as the incumbent minority leadership failed to withdraw the case before the tribunal to allow the internal dispute mechanism to take place.
The matter will now be determined by the UDA party, which is expected to evoke a fresh battle between the two factions.