Leadership wrangles have hit the Devolution Empowerment Party (DEP), associated with former Meru Governor Kiraitu Murungi.
Lawyer Mugambi Imanyara is fighting his removal as DEP Secretary General after a section of party officials purportedly suspended him pending a disciplinary hearing against him.
The party is associated with Kiraitu, former Embu Senator Lenny Kivuti and some political heavyweights in Mount Kenya East.
A list of party officials provided by the Registrar of Political Parties indicates Watson Kimathi as party leader and Imanyara the secretary general but some party leaders, including Kimathi, have disowned it.
In a letter dated January 15, Imanyara wrote to the Registrar of Political Parties requesting a list of DEP's registered officials after a group claimed to have removed him from the leadership.
In response, through a letter dated January 17, Ali Surraw for the RPP listed Kimathi as party leader, Rael Murungi as deputy leader and Imanyara as secretary general among other officials.
"The list (from registrar) is authentic. It was a response to my letter," he said.
But DEP Executive Officer and Meru County Secretary General Alhaj Mwendia said Imanyara remains suspended pending a probe by a three-member disciplinary panel appointed by the party's National Executive Council (NEC).
"Imanyara remains suspended awaiting appearance before the disciplinary panel whose recommendations will determine his continued relationship with the party, the most extreme being expulsion," Mwendia said.
He that claimed Imanyara had failed to execute duties given to him by the NEC.
Imanyara is accused of failing to register Alfred Baariu as the deputy secretary general and former Meru Deputy Governor Titus Ntuchiu as an official.
"It was realized Mugambi never registered these officials. It is one of the reasons he is before the disciplinary panel. The process of registering officials he had failed to register is ongoing, including Baariu as deputy secretary general," Mwendia, a former MCA in Meru Assembly, said.
