Former Meru County Governor and PNU Party leader Peter Munya addressing participants at a fundraiser which culminated into a political merger between the two parties. [Samson Wire, Standard]
A leadership row in the Party of National Unity has ended up in court.
The matter in court questions the status and actions of NEC officials in transacting PNU business and expresses concerns over recent developments within the party.
The matter, certified as urgent by the Political Party Disputes Tribunal (PPDT) chair Desma Nungo, in an order dated March 7, 2022, came up for ex-parte hearing on Thursday.
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The suit, filed by PNU secretary-general, John Okemwa and chair, David Kamau, questions the role of Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya in the affairs of the political party.
Although Munya is not an official of PNU, he has been cited in the judicial proceedings for allegedly having a hand in the ejection of six PNU officials during a National Delegates Conference (NDC) at Bomas of Kenya on February 24. He is listed as the third respondent.
Besides ejecting the six officials through a resolution proposed by Munya, the NDC also passed the resolution for PNU to join Azimio a Umoja movement.
The matter was rescheduled for further hearing on April 4, after PNU’s lawyer, Frank Walukhwe, challenged the jurisdiction of the PPDT to hear and determine the case. PNU, as an institution, is listed as the fourth respondent.
The petitioner, Kevin Kariuki, says that he was elected deputy secretary-general on May 24, 2019, and pleads that the tribunal grants a temporary injunction against implementation of the move to remove him from office until the dispute is heard.
The other aggrieved PNU officials include the organising secretary, Martin Mitwee, Alfonce Musyoka (treasurer), Dominic Kariuki (director of elections) and Irene Muronji, the chair of the Women’s Caucus.
The dispute is viewed as an extension of supremacy battles between CS Munya and Laikipia Governor, Ndiritu Muriithi, given that the ejected officials are perceived to be loyal to Muriithi.
The governor’s faction holds sway in the NEC and the move by the CS – if withheld- will 'dilute' Muriithi’s influence and hold on the party, whose ticket retired President Mwai Kibaki was elected on in 2007.
The development is likely to distract and divert PNU party officials’ energies from the campaigns. Both Munya and Muriithi, who chairs Raila Odinga's presidential campaign board, are valuable players in Raila’s presidential bid and are separately touted as possible running mates of the former Prime Minister.
