The Court of Appeal has quashed a case by Nairobi Woman Representative Esther Passaris who sought to form her own party called Harambee Party.
Court of Appeal judges Asike Makhandia, William Ouko and Patrick O Kiage made this decision a week ago after the matter was subsequently rejected by the Register of Political Parties, the Political Parties Tribunal and the High Court.
Passaris' bid to register the party was first rejected by the Registers of Political Parties who claimed that it used the word Harambee which is prohibited and does not comply with the Constitution.
The National Super Alliance (NASA) lawmaker appealed the matter to the Political Disputes Tribunal which also dismissed her appeal.
[caption caption="Esther Passaris (Twitter)"]
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Passaris later sought the intervention of the High Court where Justice Lucy Njuguna ruled that Passaris' bid to create her party was limited to the choice of name of the proposed outfit.
She cited section 8 of the Political Parties Act and Section 3 of the National Flag, Emblems and Names Act which expressly prohibited the use of the word Harambee.
"The appellant’s right and fundamental freedom to register a political party was limited expressly by those statutes," she ruled.
When she sought further intervention at Court of Appeal, the judges also quashed the appeal adding that the only question that arose was whether the tribunal's decision to reject the appellant’s application to have the name Harambee Democratic Party reserved was lawful.
The section prohibits the use of any 'specified' names, likenesses and emblems which includes any of the names and words like the name of the President, the words Harambee, Jamhuri, Madaraka, and Nyayo.
[caption caption="Esther Passaris and Gitobu Imanyara (Facebook)"]
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