Raila Junior’s demands to Registrar after ANC error
Raila Junior on Wednesday, June 23 issued a 24-hour ultimatum to the Office of Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP) to remove his name from the membership list of the African National Congress (ANC) political outfit.
In a letter written addressed to the organization’s Registrar through Rachier & Amollo Advocates LLP, Junior, the son of opposition leader Raila Odinga instructed the ORPP to expunge his name from the ANC party-list within 24 hours after receiving the demand letter.
Odinga is the leader of Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party.
“We thus have instructions to Demand that your office rectifies your records specifically by deleting our client’s details from the ANC Party membership list, and properly listing him as a member of the ODM party immediately and in any event within twenty-four hours from receipt of this letter, and thereafter confirm the rectification to us in writing,” the demand letter reads in part.
According to the demand letter, Raila Junior says he did not present himself or consent to his registration as an ANC party member and ORPP to verify the lists of members of a political party before publicizing the same given that it is their duty under section 34 (d) of the Political Parties Act.
“…Our client remains a lifetime member of ODM. He protests the violation of his privacy and irregular and erroneous use of his personal data on your platform without his consent,” Rachier and Amollo Advocates said.
Through his lawyers, Raila Junior said his listing as a member of ANC is false and injurious.
“Following my recent inclusion on ANC Party, I have instructed my lawyer to write to seek clarity as to why I was there without my knowledge or consent. I understand there is a class of Kenyans who face a similar predicament,” Raila Jnr said in a tweet on Wednesday, June 23.
Following my recent inclusion on @anc_party I’ve instructed my lawyers to write @ORPPKenya to seek clarity on as to why I was there without my knowledge or consent. I understand there is a class of kenyans who face a similar predicament. pic.twitter.com/W54feYU4tZ
— Raila Odinga Junior (@Railajunior) June 23, 2021
This comes even as many Kenyans have taken to social media to protest being listed as members of parties, yet they did not offer themselves for registration.
On Saturday, ORPP defended itself from these errors, stating the recruitment of members is done by political parties in line with respective party constitutions; section 7, Political Parties Act, 2011, second schedule to Political Parties Act paragraph six.
Nderitu said in a statement that her office was piloting the online service to enable the public to verify their political party membership status.
“This is, therefore, to appraise you on this development and invite your feedback through info@orpp.or.ke or to our offices,” she said.
On Wednesday ORRP was forced to deactivate the site terming it as a piloting period which was for checking membership status on the E-citizen platform and that it had expired.
However, Kenyans termed the revelations a breach of the right to privacy and are demanding answers from the registrar’s office.