Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen has warned that the Political Parties Bill that was signed into law by President Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday will kill the careers of many politicians in the Azimio la Umoja.
Murkomen, a fierce critic of the president said while the new law aims at helping ODM leader Raila Odinga ascend to power, majority of those who passed it will be the ones crying after party primaries/nominations in April 2022.
Murkomen asked the handshake team which unanimously endorsed the bill against crying foul when it turns against them.
“We have passed Political Parties Amendment Bill and effectively given Azimio (La Umoja) the rope they wanted to hang themselves. Let no one come back crying to us after the April (2022) nominations,” Murkomen said in a Tweet.
On Thursday, January 27, President Uhuru Kenyatta signed into law the controversial Political Parties Bill 2021 which introduced the concept of coalition political parties.
The new law has been interpreted as President Uhuru and Raila Odinga’s plan to punish Deputy President William Ruto who was against creating coalitions in favour of one big political party.
At one point, Ruto asked smaller parties to fold and join UDA and transform into a big national party, a move that scared many for fear of being locked out during party primaries.
The new law which was approved by National Assembly before being adopted by Senate on Wednesday, January 26, outlines the functions of political parties as well as changed the criteria of accessing the Political Parties Fund.
It also allows aspirants for various seats to vie either on their coalition’s ticket or tickets of parties forming the coalition giving room for aspirants to battle it out for various seats without the fear of being rigged out during party primaries.
Unlike now where the presidential candidate has to vie on one of the coalition’s affiliate party tickets, the new law will make it possible for a presidential candidate to vie on a said coalition’s ticket for instance Raila Odinga may vie on the Azimio la Umoja ticket if it is registered as a coalition before the August 2022 presidential election.