Tribunal dismisses cases against Jubilee Party merger

President Uhuru Kenyatta (front left) with his deputy William Ruto at State House in Nairobi on August 9, 2016, along with officials of political parties that will merge to form the Jubilee Party. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP 

By MAUREEN KAKAH
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The planned merger of a number of political parties to for the Jubilee Party can go on as planned, the Political Parties Dispute Tribunal has ruled.

The tribunal on Wednesday threw out two cases challenging the merger set for Saturday.

The New Ford-Kenya party had sought to stop the merger, in a suit pitting Bungoma Governor Kenneth Lusaka.

A member of Ford-People had also sued acting Secretary-General Jerry Kenyasa while also seeking to stop the scheduled merger.

But the tribunal ruled that New Ford-Kenya did not comply with rules for settling disputes using internal mechanisms before filing the case at the tribunal.

Consequently, the tribunal dismissed both cases. It promised to provide the reasons for dismissing the Ford-People suit later.

The tribunal also lifted previously issued temporary orders that had stopped the merger after Ford-People filed their case.