Wear masks or forget rallies, politicians told
Measures developed to guide public activities in the wake of surging Covid-19 cases
Centre for Multi-Party Democracy (CMD) in consultation with political parties, Office of Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP) and the Ministry of Health have developed a raft of measures to guide political activities in the country.
Proposals have made it mandatory for political leaders to address public rallies with their masks properly worn.
Politicians will also be required to disinfect microphones between use and restrain from politicising interventions put in place by government to curb spread and raving effects of Covid-19.
They will be expected to provide masks to all those who do not have them but want to attend their rallies. They should also avoid meet-the-people tours that may result in melees and compromise the containment measures.
Protocols come at a time when the country is headed to heightened political activities ranging from Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) campaigns to by-elections lined up next year to preparation for 2022 General Election.
New measures seek to ensure political actors have legal certainty of what behaviour and actions are expected of them when mobilising and conducting political gatherings.
“The protocols provide a non-discriminatory and enforceable standards by ensuring that everyone, including persons with disability are protected and given equal chances to participate in political affairs of the country,” the protocols launched yesterday indicate
The proposals came as Registrar of Political Parties Ann Nderitu said political parties operations must go on, guided by the protocols, which she said will assist in shaping the manner in which political rallies and meetings are held not only at closed-door but also in open fields.
“I want to state that political parties have been involved in this process so the question of ownership does not arise. We will play by the rules we have provided ourselves.
My request is that all political par-ties be alert, not only at the national but also at the grassroot level,” said Nderitu, when she was handed over the protocols by CMD officials yesterday in Nairobi.
She urged all political parties to engage its branches using these rules so that as a sector, they are able to play the part in terms of fighting Covid-19.
Nderitu said one of the significant issues is how parties can continue meeting because the office of RPP and law provide that they should continue holding National Delegates Conference, National Governing Councils and National Executive Committees.
Online meetings
She said parties are expected to prepare for 2022 and to have complied with the set rules.
To this end, Nderitu assured po-litical parties that RPP is coming up with guidelines that will govern online meetings, which will be acceptable for all.
She said her office will from next month engage political parties in ratifying guidelines on the manner in which they should hold statutory online meeting, which make a party compliant.
“We will all agree what constitutes a valid meeting as far as the law is concerned and validate so that we do not have issues,” she explained.
