Registrar of Political Parties Anne Nderitu has confirmed receiving applications from Kenyans seeking to register party names associated with the major political debates in Kenya currently.
In an interview with KTN News on Sunday, Nderitu said she has been receiving applications to register parties whose names are associated with the handshake debate, inspired by the 2018 truce between President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM boss Raila Odinga.
Nderitu divulged that her office has received about 8 applications to do with handshake, and a few others to do with the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) constitutional amendments push.
"Recently, Kenyans also started bringing on board BBI as a party or others calling it Building Bridges Initiative party. About 8 under the name handshake," she said.
However, she noted that none of the proposals are likely to see the light of the day, given that the names are associated with initiatives already in the public domain.
According to Nderitu, registering such would only cause confusion among the public, and cannot, therefore, be registered or the names reserved.
"When you say that you register or reserve the name handshake and then it's out there as a name of s political party, then you are causing confusion because already there is a public debate going on associated with the name handshake," she added.
Nderitu noted that among the requests she has received, none is associated with any notable political figures.