Residents of Malindi and lawyers have condemned what they termed as a violation of individual rights by the state in relation to registration of political parties.
This follows frustration by Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna and his Linda Mwananchi brigade in registering their new party.
Malindi Lawyer Alfred Wanga says it was wrong for the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP) to delay the registration of the Linda Mwananchi movement when the name had not been reserved by other parties.
“Just moments after the Caroli Omondi made a presser, we noticed that there was a political party that was registered whose abbreviations is Linda yet Linda Mwananchi name registration was denied on grounds of public interest and so when people see such things they start questioning. When the democratic space is controlled for a few individuals, it begins creating an environment of suspicion hence hostility. The registrar should stop being influenced by some parties,” says Wanga.
Kens Ondiek, a resident of Malindi, said that the Linda Mwananchi movement will survive the political suffocation it was facing from the government and warned President William Ruto against muzzling freedom of expression and association that are enshrined in law.
“The president has failed Kenyans and he should not use his powers to deny others from registering political parties to remove him from power or his critics from pointing out his failures,” he said.
Sifuna and a delegation of allies from the Linda Mwananchi movement walked into the ORPP early this week hoping to know whether their opposition outfit could legally carry the name that has become its rallying cry.
Sifuna’s team met the Registrar of Political Parties, John Cox Lorionokou, after the ORPP had earlier rejected an application to reserve the name “Linda Mwananchi Party of Kenya”.
The rejection communicated to promoter Charles Wanyonyi held that the name closely resembled an already reserved slogan, “Linda Mkenya, Boresha Kenya,” and raised public-interest concerns under Section 8 of the Political Parties Act.
Movement spokesperson and Suba South MP Caroli Omondi told reporters after the sit-down that the Registrar had agreed to look at the decision afresh and give an answer by the end of the week, a fact not corroborated by the ORPP.
Omondi said the office had previously declined the application over the public interest it had generated, but that the movement believed there was no valid reason to keep refusing their outfit registration.
