Wetang’ula urges disputes tribunal to stop his ouster as Ford-K chief
Alphonce Mung’ahu
Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang’ula has moved to the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal in a bid to stop his removal as Ford Kenya leader.
Wetang’ula asked the Tribunal to order the Registrar of Political Parties Anne Nderitu not to effect any leadership changes in the party.
The Bungoma senator also seeks a declaration that he is the bona fide party leader.
In the case filed under a certificate of urgency by lawyer Eunice Lumallas of Ford-Kenya, the tribunal was asked to order that the status quo to be maintained as far as the leadership of the party is concerned.
The senator’s lawyers, Nelson Havi, Ben Millimo and John Khaminwa, asked the Tribunal members Desina Mugo, Milly Lwanga and Adelaide Mbithi to injunct the Registrar from effecting any changes in the party leadership pending determination of the case.
Havi, also the President of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), urged the Tribunal to grant temporary relief to pave way for resolution of the leadership dispute through the party’s arbitration committee.
Purported coup
“Pending the determination of this application, an order be issued restraining the interested party Nderitu from acting upon, altering and or effecting changes in the office of the applicant (Ford-Kenya) recognising Wafula Wamunyinyi as the interim party leader,” Havi prayed.
He asked the PPDT to order a status quo of the party leadership before the purported coup.
In the case Ford-Kenya has named Tongareni MP David Eseli Simiyu and Wamunyinyi (Kanduyi MP) as the respondents while Nderitu and the Speaker of the National Assembly Justine Muturi are listed as interested parties.
The Tribunal heard that on June 2, 2020 Ford-Kenya filed a suit seeking to bar Nderitu from effecting any changes in the leadership of the party but the case was fixed for mention on June 16, with no interim orders issued.
The tribunal heard the apprehension of Ford-Kenya came to pass as Nderitu received documents seeking to alter the leadership of the party.
But the Wamunyinyi faction was not registered since the registrar noted some loopholes in the documents they filed.
On June 2, 2020 , Ford-Kenya held a management meeting which deliberated on the conduct of the party members who had held the purported NEC and ousted the Wetang’ula team.
“On June 4, 2020, the registrar issued an official communication of the status of the party’s application to her office,” Havi stated.
Among the directions Nderitu gave to the Wamunyinyi faction was that “ the statutory form PP7 was not properly signed by the authorised officials as the records held by the office of the Registrar.”
On June 5, the Wamunyinyi faction filed other returns of change of Ford-Kenya leadership.
Wamunyinyi’s team was picked during an alleged NEC of Ford-Kenya held at Radisson Blue Hotel Nairobi on May 31.
