Judy Ogutu
8 February 2008
Nairobi — The Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) has disassociated itself from the Inter-Party Parliamentary Group agreement (IPPG).
Commission chairman, Mr Samuel Kivuitu, declared on Thursday that ECK was not party to the 1997 pact among parliamentary political parties.
"There has never been a binding agreement known as IPPG. If it exists, then ECK was not party to it nor can it override provisions of the Constitution," Kivuitu said.
In the pact, political parties were to proportionately share the 12 nominated MPs slots depending on political strength in Parliament.
Kivuitu was responding to a suit Safina party has filed, which wants the ECK compelled to allocate it a nomination slot in Parliament.
The party argues that ODM-Kenya had been allocated two slots, but was entitled to one.
Yesterday, Kivuitu said it would be unfair and unjust to award Safina and ODM-Kenya the same MP nomination slots.
He said the suit did not disclose evidence of irregularity on ECK's part.
"Even if Safina was awarded one slot in 1997, that would not be binding to the ECK, especially if calculations are erroneous," he said.
The ECK chairman further argued that if the principle of "reasonableness" were to be adhered to, it would not be reasonable to equate ODM-Kenya, with 16 elected MPs, to Safina, which has five.
Safina's quest for a nomination slot in Parliament moved to the Court of Appeal, last week. The party is challenging a High Court decision declining to stop the ECK from denying it a slot.
Safina's lawyer, Dr P L O Lumumba, told appeal Judges Samuel Bosire, Emmanuel O'Kubasu and Erastus Githinji the court was the only one that could rescue the party.
The party, which won five seats in last year's General Election, sued the ECK, ODM-Kenya and the Attorney-General.
It went to court through the chairman, Mr Paul Muite, and secretary-general, Ms Regina Mung'ara.
The party argued that according to the 1997 IPPG agreement, ODM-Kenya was entitled to one seat.
However, the High Court declined to issue temporary orders.
The Court of Appeal will issue an order on the party's application today.
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