CANDIDATES are still defecting to different parties seeking nominations for a seat of their choice.

Well after last Friday's deadline, candidates are still announcing their decision to run on fresh tickets. Jimnah Mbaru who contested the Nairobi governor TNA ticket last week now says he is running for the Alliance Party of Kenya. On Monday Julius Kones moved from URP to Kenya National Congress. Last Friday Suleiman Shabhal switched from UDF to Wiper, and John Muthutho went from TNA to Narc.

But the Political Parties Act clearly states that politicians must give the Registrar of Political Parties three days notice if they are planning to defect.

Therefore the final deadline for defections was last Friday but only if the Registrar had been given notice by Wednesday or before.

The new law was designed to stop party hopping and create parties bound together by ideology rather than opportunism.

We are now rapidly drifting back to the bad old days where political parties were nothing more than vehicles for individual politicians.

The Registrar and the IEBC must crack down on party hoppers. Anyone who did not give three days notice, or defected after Friday, should be disqualified.

Quote of the day: "The gospel comprises indeed, and unfolds, the whole mystery of man's redemption, as far forth as it is necessary to be known for our salvation." - Scientist Robert Boyle was born on January 25, 1629