Machakos governor and Maendeleo Chap Chap party leader, Alfred Mutua, says he is moving to court to seek orders compelling the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition Party to furnish him with the agreement establishing the coalition.
In a statement dated Friday, May 6, Mutua detailed that the founders of Azimio - namely President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga - and the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP) have kept the agreement secret.
Mutua alleges that the final agreement was altered and his party wanted to confirm its contents.
"MCC has in today’s Governing Council meeting decided to go to court and demand to get the document so as to see what changes have been made, if any. It's unfortunate that we're in a coalition relationship whose members have to go to court to get what's their automatic right," read the statement in part.
Mutua added that he will give a directive on his future in the coalition on Monday. May 9, stating that some of them were being shortchanged.
In particular, he claimed that the agreement contained zoning of some counties which will lock out some of the affiliate parties from fielding candidates in some areas.
"What games are they playing? On Monday, May 9th, 2022, the party will make a decision on the way forward bearing in mind the plans to zone our party aspirants out and the deadlines set by law.
"We have been operating in good faith but this has not been reciprocated. There is a clear and present danger that aspirants in parties in Azimio will be denied their democratic opportunity to be on the ballot. This we cannot accept.," he stated.
The Machakos governor had earlier written to the ORPP seeking to withdraw from the coalition party but he was informed his party would not be allowed to leave.
“Azimio is already a registered coalition political party in terms of Section 7(7) of the Political Parties Act, 2011 and the Political Parties (Registration) Regulation, 2019, hence the Registrar has no mandate to sanction the withdrawal as per your request, save for where due process outlined in the coalition agreement has been followed," ORPP responded.
In recent weeks, various parties in the Raila-Uhuru lead faction have lamented secrecy in the coalition even as they called for the inclusion of affiliate parties in the coalition's decision-making processes.
Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi's Pamoja African Alliance (PAA) was one of the parties that also wrote to the ORPP requesting to exit the coalition party.
