Kenyans protest registration into political parties without consent

Kenyans protested forceful listing of their names as members of political parties without their knowledge and consent widely on Saturday.

In a response to the uproar, the Registrar of Political Parties Ann Nderitu stated that the listing was part of the pilot process of the integrated political parties management system on the e-citizen platform and that the issues raised would be addressed once the process was finalized.

Article 38 of the constitution on political rights allows any citizen to form, join or participate in the activities of any political party this however is done willingly, but in the past two days social media platforms have been awash with protests by Kenyans who found out their names had been registered under various political parties some unknown and unheard of.

The protests targeted at the office of the Registrar of Political Parties Ann Nderitu, who Kenyans wanted to authorize their removal, questioning how political parties gained access to their details and whether this would be used for malicious and ulterior purposes.

“The parties have a right to recruit members and sometimes speaking from experience sometimes people forget that they registered, and you cannot say a party obtained details fraudulently,” Anne Nderitu said on Saturday.

Nderitu stated that they were carrying out an audit of the political parties membership register ahead of next year General Election with the aim of cleaning it to reflect the picture on the ground and that the list uploaded on the e-citizen platform that had infuriated Kenyans was a pilot of the integrated political parties management system.

“After the piloting, we will engage the political parties on some of the issues that been raised,” she added.

She advised those whose names were in the wrong political party to follow the laid out process of de-registration, starting with writing a notice of resignation to the respective political party and copy it to the Registrar of Political Parties.

They will also be required to attach to the notice, a copy of the National ID or passport to kick-start the process of removal.

Angry Kenyans have lamented over the announcement, saying the registrar should give a provision for de-registration since they did not give consent.

“You cannot judge one side, its your word against the party and the party against the member its about getting all the issues then we deal with the matter as the process of cleaning the register continues,” Ms Nderitu said.

It is not the first time such protests have hit the social media circles, in 2017, five months to the polls, Kenyans complained over what they say was the fraudulent acquisition of their information for registration purposes.

Kenyans now want the newly appointed data commissioner to act on the matter, fearing the violation of their privacy.