Political Parties Amendment Bill Passed by National Assembly
The controversial Political Parties (Amendment) Bill was finally passed by members of parliament on Wednesday night.
The bill was passed after a prolonged session characterized by differences displayed between MPs in favor and those opposed to the Bill, this will now pave the way for the formation of a coalition party.
Therefore, the 3-day session which had been requested earlier will not be conducted as earlier gazetted, having considered the Bill, the House is adjourned till January 25.
The bill proposed by Majority leader, Amos Kimunya, is to define political parties as an association of citizens with unidentifiable ideology or program that is constituted for the purposes of influencing public policy or nominating candidates to conduct elections.
The law further seeks to allow candidates to run on either coalition party tickets or individual parties, a change which is being interpreted by a section of lawmakers as one way President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM party leader Raila Odinga, to allow the registration of Azimio La Umoja Movement, as a coalition and clear the way for it to field candidates in the August polls.
Members of parliament allied to ODM party leader Raila Odinga, went ahead to thank those who backed up the bill and could not mince their words, Minority Whip and Suna East counterpart Junet Mohamed being on the forefront said, 'as Azimio group’, we have defeated TangaTanga very badly, they are bruised and I don’t know if they will recover from this.'
Tanganga allied members, on the other hand, did not agree with the ruling, led by Garissa township Member of parliament, Aden Duale, they insisted that the United Democratic Alliance party is still the biggest political movement in the country.
The bill will now proceed to the Senate for consideration.
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