The Political Parties Act provides that parties should surrender original copies of their initial registration certificates/MIKE KARIUKI
NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 16 – Former KANU Chairman Uhuru Kenyatta has been given until close of business on Monday to hand over the party’s registration certificate to the current office holders.
According to Secretary General Nick Salat the certificate is the only remaining item that is required before KANU finally hands over their documents for official registration.
He has warned that failure to comply by Kenyatta who ditched the party will be reported to the police as a case of a lost document.
“We have complied with many of the conditions set out in the Political Parties Act; the only thing that is missing is the certificate which is still in Kenyatta’s possession. We are appealing to him to surrender it amicably and not to lead us in the way he is trying,” said Salat who was speaking on Capital in the Morning show.
The Political Parties Act provides that parties should surrender original copies of their initial registration certificates before they are issued with new ones.
Kenyatta last week said that he won’t seek any elective position in the party’s upcoming elections and that the current officials should ensure that the party complies before expiry of the April 30 deadline.
Salat has insisted that there was no ill motive in the radical amendment of the party’s constitution that cut down the powers of the chairman.
“We have strived to ensure that our constitution reflects our national constitution in terms of distributing powers; we want to change with the changing times. In fact we are in the current position because of powers that were vested in the chairman,” he insisted.
On Saturday, Deputy Chairman Gideon Moi was named the interim chairman of KANU at a Special National Delegates Conference (NDC) held at Kasarani.
The Special National Delegates Conference also adopted a new constitution that aims at restructuring the management of the party.
The new KANU constitution curtails the powers of the chairman and transfers most of the mandate to the secretary general and the party organs.
The new chairman will not have powers to order fresh elections or to appoint a committee to run the affairs of party organs where necessary.
In the new KANU constitution, the secretary general will head the secretariat; convene a NEC meeting which will have powers to order an NDC or National Governing Council (NGC).
Salat defended himself against accusations that he stood in the way of the party’s progress saying his actions were based on the need for transparency in the party.
“As a secretary general and the party’s accounting officer I never sat in the meeting that decided on the new membership cards so I was only making known to the authorities that there was a suspicious deal,” Salat added.
Last week Kenyatta said that the party had twice postponed scheduled National Delegates Conferences due to sideshows instigated by the Secretary-General, who has been an obstacle to the process of compliance.
Salat has assured that the party will seek to strengthen itself in the counties in a rejuvenated attempt to gain national appeal before the next general elections.
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