Lobby takes a stab at defectors

Presidential aspirants Uhuru Kenyatta, Musalia Mudavadi, William Ruto and Peter Kenneth are among scores of MPs who risk losing their seats for defecting from parties that sponsored them.This follows a decision by a lobby linked to Prime Minister Raila Odinga to move to court seeking orders to eject them from Parliament.The Friends of Raila (Fora) lobby wants the court to order the Registrar of Political Parties to write to the Speaker of the National Assembly to declare the seats held by the MPs vacant.Recently sacked Cabinet minister Najib Balala and Justice minister Eugene Wamalwa are also among the nearly 100 MPs who may be affected.Mr Kenyatta has left Kanu, which sponsored him to Parliament and is now associated with The National Alliance while Mr Kenneth, who went to Parliament on a PNU ticket is in the Kenya National Congress.Mr Mudavadi and Mr Ruto have ditched ODM for the United Democratic Forum and United Republican Party respectively. Dozens of MPs have moved with them.Fora’s petition is signed by officials Micah Kigen (chairman), Hassan Omar Hassan (vice chairman), Eliud Owalo (secretary) and activist Charles Omanga.It contends that the Registrar’s failure to take action against the MPs is a violation of the Constitution and the Political Parties Act.“We also want an order directing that the said Members of Parliament are deemed to have resigned from their sponsoring political parties pursuant to section 14 of the Political Parties Act and accordingly need to seek a fresh mandate from their constituents,” said the lobby group’s lawyer Anthony Oluoch...Click here