Nairobi Women Representative Esther Passaris' bid to form a new political party has suffered a major blow.
This is after the Court of Appeal quashed Passaris's case who sought to form her own party called Harambee Party.Court of Appeal judges Asike Makhandia, William Ouko, and Patrick O Kiage made this decision a week ago after the matter was subsequently rejected by the Register of Political Parties, the Political Parties Tribunal and the High Court.Passaris' bid was first rejected by the Registers of Political Parties on the grounds that it used the word Harambee which is prohibited and does not comply with the Constitution.Passaris' elected on an ODM ticket appealed the matter to the Political Disputes Tribunal which also dismissed her appeal.Passaris later sought the intervention of the High Court where Justice Lucy Njuguna ruled that Passaris' bid to create her party was limited to the choice of name of the proposed outfit."The appellant’s right and fundamental freedom to register a political party was limited expressly by those statutes," she ruled.The section prohibits the use of any 'specified' names, likenesses and emblems which includes any of the names and words like the name of the President, the words Harambee, Jamhuri, Madaraka, and Nyayo.