CJ Maraga swears in Registrar of Political Parties and assistants

Registrar of Political Parties Ann Nderitu during an interview with the Standard at her office. [File, Standard]

Chief Justice David Maraga on Monday presided over the swearing of Ann Nderitu as the Registrar of Political Parties, and her two assistants, Ali Abdullahi and Florence Tabu. The event, which took place in the morning, also encompassed the swearing-in of members of the National Heroes Council. Award-winning teacher Peter Tabichi took the oath under this category.

After her oath-taking, Nderitu gave a reassurance that the body will remain steadfast in executing its mandate professionally.

“We shall be part of what we shall focus on as an institution so that we can ensure that the political parties and the political process [are] inclusive,” she said.

She waded into the ongoing inclusion debate by vowing to make the parties toe the line in adhering to the laws of embracing the minority groups.

“We are aware that the debate is live on the participation of women, persons with disabilities, the youth and Kenyans in all their diversity and our focus is to ensure that Kenyans actually get the service from the office in all spheres of life.

Our aim to try as much as possible within the law to institutionalise the political parties by focusing on how political parties are governed, training and capacity building of political parties so that they are responsive to the public that they are supposed to serve,” she said.

The Chief Justice also called on the body to streamline the political parties and restore sanity in the institution of the political parties.

Maraga said, “You will be seating on a fairly hot seat. It will be your duty to ensure that they respect their internal democracies and supervise how parties relate with each other. It is your duty to reign them in so that we have a cohesive society.”

President Uhuru Kenyatta nominated Ann Nderitu to serve for the position in a six-year term on September 8, 2020. Nominees for the assistant positions were Ali Abullahi Surro, Florence Taabu, and Wilson Mohochi.

The assistants faced the vetting panel of the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee chaired by Kangema MP Muturi Kigano.

Sixteen days later, the National Assembly approved the nominees for positions clearing them for the swearing-in and the task ahead.

Nderitu took the position from Lucy Ndung’u in 2018 and has been serving two years now. The latter moved to Commission on Administrative Justice.

She formerly headed Nderitu was the head of voter registration at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) before moving to the Office of Registrar of Political Parties.