Irungu Nyakera decries attempts to have Farmers Party, UDA deregistered
The Farmers Party of Kenya has strong condemned alleged plans by the Azimio coalition to lodge a case in court in an attempt to derail the new government by having the party and President William Ruto's United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party de-registered by the Registrar of Political Parties.
In a press statement, the party through its Chairman Irungu Nyakera says it's aggrieved by a suit filed in court on Friday morning by Azimio through its alleged proxies namely Ruth Khanali Ogolla, Chrispin Mayaka Bosire and Kevin Ndoho Macharia and a civil rights group Katiba Institute seeking to de-register UDA and Farmers Party on allegations of registration of members without their consent.
"A close look at the court papers reveals a hurried attempt by the proxies of Azimio to derail the government of H. E. Willam Ruto, as the suits seek de-registration of the two political parties, despite the glaring dearth of evidence of any person illegally registered by the parties," the statement by Irungu reads in part.
"The suit makes empty allegations and has not provided any admissible evidence, hence pointing to a treacherous plot by the opposition to derail the Kenya Kwanza government by hook or crook through unfounded legal machinations."
In the petition filed before Milimani High Court, the petitioners fault UDA, Farmers party and Jubilee Party which are listed as respondents in the suit for irregularly registration of Ruth Khanali Ogolla, Chrispin Mayaka Bosire and Kevin Ndoho Macharia to the political parties without their knowledge or consent contrary to the constitution, the Political Parties Act 2011 and the Data Protection Act 2019.
Through lawyer Lempaa Suyianka, the petitioners fault the parties for failing to register as data processors by June 25, 2021, yet the registration was due on July 14, 2022.
"Despite the petitioner's frantic efforts for over a year to have the parties remedy the situation by deregistering them, the parties have failed to act, deny the petitioners the full enjoyment of their rights to privacy as per Article 31, association right under Article 36 and political rights under Article 32 and 91 of the constitution, " Lempaa states in the court papers.
The lawyer argues unless the court issued orders compelling the UDA, Farmers Party and Jubilee Party to have the petitioners expunged from the registers of the three political parties, his clients will continue to be prejudiced by being denied their opportunity to fully enjoy and participate in the upcoming elections, especially realizing of Article 38 of the constitution.
The Farmers Party of Kenya, an outfit allied to President Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza coalition, however, says upon a cursory perusal of the suit papers confirms that the same raises matters failing purely within the purview of the office of Registrar of political parties and Data commissioner.
"But since the main objective of the suit is to mud-sling UDA and its affiliates, the Petitioners had to approach the courts," Irungu added in his statement.
However, the Farmers Party indicates that it has instructed its legal team led by Chege Kamau, of Chege and Sang Advocates to aggressively oppose the petition and thwart the clandestine machinations to derail the duly elected government of President Ruto.
