Thousands of aspirants are scrambling for tickets from little-known parties in a bid to boost their chances of nomination with less than a month before the window for joining political outfits closes.

According to the law, anyone seeking an elective seat in the coming elections on a party ticket must ensure they are members of that party by March 26. 

The recently passed Political Parties Act requires all outfits to submit their membership register by this date for perusal before the primaries slated for mid next month.

“A political party shall, at least ninety days before a general election, submit to the Registrar a register of its members and a statement of its assets and liabilities in the prescribed form,” the Act says.

Before the law was amended, the period for being a member of a party was 60 days to the General Election but that period was shortened by the enactment of the amendments last month.   

A good number of less-known parties are reporting heightened activities in their offices as the deadline approaches, with aspirants not willing to be subjected to nominations conducted by bigger outfits that are often not transparent.

Parties such as Chama Cha Mashinani (CCM), Democratic Action Party of Kenya, Farmers Party, United Progressive Alliance (UPA), Pamoja African Alliance (PAA), Kenya Social Congress and Kenya National Congress are reaping big as some of the political bigwigs seek their tickets.

For instance, Nyamira Governor Amos Nyaribo has opted to defend his seat in the newly-formed UPA at the expense of bigger outfits such as ODM and UDA. UPA is associated with Gusii professsionals coalescing around Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i. 

The governor, who took over the county following the death of John Nyagarama in 2020, is said to have bagged a direct ticket and will not have to worry about nominations next month. 

Chama Cha Mashinani led by former Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto has also started reaping from growing dissatisfaction within dominant parties in the Rift Valley with scores of aspirants trooping to the outfit following fears they might not get a fair chance to be elected during the primaries.   

Huge interest

The party’s Secretary General Albert Kochei told People Daily yesterday they were attracting huge interest across the country because of efforts they had put in to promote it nationally.

“We are attracting a lot of attention because of the efforts we have put in promoting our party. These are fruits of hard work,” he said. He added they managed only two MPs and a handful of MCAs in the 2017 elections but are hoping to clinch more seats this year.

“Our strong ideology on devolution is also resonating well with most of the aspirants. We are the only party that has come out strongly in defence of and strengthening devolution,” added Kochei, who said they will offer their members an “excellent opportunity” to be elected in August.

The alignment with UDA, which is expected to be the dominant party in the Rift Valley, seems to have raised CCM’s profile although Kochei said the hustler mashinani tag was relatable with many of those willing to join them.   

The party has been receiving defectors from UDA the last one week the latest being Richard Koech who is vying for the Baringo governor’s seat. He is a former county assembly clerk. Others who joined the outfit, are Emily Korir who is vying for Narok Woman Representative seat and Weldon Mutai, who is running for Emurua Dikirr MP seat.

The Farmers Party, previously associated with former civil servant David Kigochi, also said it was attracting high-profile aspirants ready to fly the party’s flag in the coming elections. 

Already, it has bagged former Infrastructure Principal Secretary Irungu Nyakera, who is seeking to become Murang’a governor, and has already been picked as the party’s chairman.

“Farmers Party is offering a first-come-first-served basis for aspirants where the aspirants register and every week the election board goes through the applications and approves them and they go ahead and pay for the nominations.

We will not have any nominations exercise and that is provided for in our constitution. We are offering an equal chance for everyone who aligns with the focus of the Farmers Party,” Nyakera told People Daily yesterday.  He said they already have eight governor aspirants, 11 senatorial aspirants, 15 aspirants for woman representative, 24 for MP and 89 going for MCA.

“We expect the numbers to triple in March 2022,” he added.

Yesterday, Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi, who is PAA party leader, justified the formation of the smaller outfits observing that in the contemporary political arena, every region was strategising on how best to negotiate for power in the next government and that he was not going to let Kilifi to be left behind.

“As you are all aware the rest of the country is strategising. Western, Eastern, North Eastern and Rift Valley are all strategising.

This is why we are mooting our own plans to avoid the past mistakes where people from other regions come and plan for us,” Kingi said while addressing residents in Rabai Kisuritini, Kilifi County. He told the residents that they have an opportunity to shape and decide their own destiny.

“We are all Kenyans but if you are keen enough you will realise that everyone is pulling in their own direction. The truth is we have national political parties but they have specific agenda for particular regions. This is the truth.

When the parties come here we all believe that we are united but inside there you realise the parties are fighting for their regions. This time round we must look for a national party that resonates with our issues.  Of all the national parties, you can only find solace in PAA,” he said.