Aukot Dealt Blow in Court Over Party Leadership

The Political Parties Disputes Tribunal has ordered a stay in the decision by the Thirdway Alliance Party to suspend its Secretary-General Fredrick Okango.

In a statement seen by kenyagist.com on Tuesday, March 3, the tribunal granted respite to Okango who was also suspended as the chairperson of the Women’s League in the party.

According to the statement, Okango was dismissed from the post on  February 3, 2020, during a meeting of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC).

The tribunal also directed that Aukot and the other respondents in the case file their responses within seven days of the receipt of the application by Okango.

Further directions were issued that the affected parties organize a sitting on March 11, 2020, at 2.30 p.m. to resolve the grievances between them. 

Okango had appealed to the tribunal to have it reverse the decision to expel him from the party as documented on minutes taken during a party meeting on January 28, 2020.

He had also appealed for a temporary injunction to be issued, restraining the party and its leadership from undertaking any unlawful or unprocedural disciplinary decision against him.

The case had three respondents which consisted of the party, its chair Ekuru Aukot and Muiruri Waweru.

Okango’s woes with the party began on January 29, 2020, when he was suspended as the alliance’s secretary-general over remarks he made on the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI).

He stated that some of the Thirdway Alliance members supported a merger of the second round of Punguza Mizigo Initiative and the ongoing consultative framework under the Building Bridges Initiative spearheaded by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

These sentiments landed him in trouble with Aukot who dismissed him from the party with claims that he had misrepresented the party’s position.

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The statement by the Political Parties Tribunal released on March 3, 2020.

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Page 2 of the statement by the Political Parties Tribunal.

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