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She is Kenya’s ultimate political survivor. Lucy Ndung’u, the soft-spoken Registrar of Political Parties has held her job since President Mwai Kibaki was a tenant at State House.
Her staying power has seen her outlast four election chiefs, while deftly navigating the treacherous political waters.
While the tenures of Issack Hassan and his predecessors, Andrew Legale, the late Samuel Kivuitu and Zacheus Chesoni who led different electoral bodies which split the political curtain down the middle, Lucy remains one of the few highly visible civil servants who enjoys rare positive accolades from both sides of the often acrimonious political divide.
Lucy’s enduring legacy remains the last-minute rescue of Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and presidential aspirant Raila Odinga during the 2007 General Election.
Then Kalonzo Musyoka’s ally, lawyer Daniel Maanzo, had left Baba partyless by acquiring the Orange Democratic Movement —Kenya (ODM-K) registration certificate and bolting into hiding.
Lucy facilitated Odinga’s acquisition of the ODM via having it registered, besides standing up against Kibaki allies in their attempts to wrestle the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) from politician Charity Ngilu, forcing them to craft a new party, the Party of National Unity (PNU) at the 11th hour.
Either her legal training or motherly instincts - she is a lawyer and mother - or both have helped her keep several regimes of politicians happy.
She has lasted long enough to be credited with literally babysitting and nurturing new political institutions and culture under both the new Constitution and the Political Parties Act that seeks to instill discipline among political players.
What is her secret for swimming with the sharks without being devoured?
After a short pause and loudly wondering if there was one answer, she narrows down her survival to two things: “I always stick to the law and let my clients know they are free to challenge my interpretation in court at any time.
Two, I always treat my clients (politicians) with utmost decorum, like I do other professionals such as lawyers and doctors.
They speak loud and straight, telling you as they see it. If you are wrong, they say it to your face and when you are right, they are equally articulate,” explains the mother of four - two sons and two daughters aged between 27 and 14.
On what her longevity accomplished, she says, “I can say with confidence that Kenya has crossed the Rubicon. We have a strong foundation of a new political culture that can produce political parties to run the country.
No one is afraid of being barred from forming or joining a political party. We have nurtured trust across the board. Kenya is truly a multi-party democracy and there is no hidden agenda to suffocate any shade of political voice.”
Under Lucy, the office of Registrar of Political Parties has expanded in stature from a backwater section in the elections body, to an autonomous office with its own budget and space. It recently shifted from the Anniversary Towers to Lions Place in Westlands, Nairobi.
The mandate conferred on her office by the Political Parties Act includes administering the political parties fund and to “register, regulate, monitor, investigate and supervise political parties to ensure compliance with the law,” among others.
The often unacknowledged leverage of her office include key membership of the Political Parties Liaison Committee (PPLC), which grants her supervisory function over the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
Section 38 of the Act states that the principal function of the PPLC is to provide a platform for dialogue between the registrar, the IEBC and the political parties and “may perform any other duties as may be prescribed by the registrar...”
Asked why Lucy seemed to enjoy peculiar peace with politicians, Sande Oyolo, former Vice Chair of the Centre for Multi-party Democracy (CMD) board and founding secretary general of Economic Freedom Party, says, “Her greatest strength has been her policy of encouraging parties to progressively and incrementally comply with the law to grow as institutions.
A person with a different temperament may have wielded the big stick and de-registered parties and provoked a fight. I can almost bet her successor will not last as long as she has.”
Jakoyo Midiwo, Gem MP and Deputy Minority Leader in the National Assembly, praised Lucy for being faithful to the mandate of her office and resisting attempts to bend the rules. “Some of us were initially apprehensive that some forces would use her office to harass their competitors.
“However, she has not misused her office and has cultivated confidence. Indeed, the government is doing her disservice by not tabling her name for confirmation by the National Assembly,” he said.
Her last word to parties and their leaders? “Do your paperwork correctly and professionally. Most problems facing parties arise from badly drafted paperwork, rules, agreements and coalition documents, than any other source.”
