Win for Sifuna as tribunal orders reservation of Linda Mwananchi name

NAIROBI,Kenya Sep 30 – The Political Parties Disputes Tribunal has cleared the way for Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna and his allies to secure the Linda Mwananchi name, setting aside the Registrar of Political Parties’ decision to decline its reservation.

In a ruling delivered on Wednesday, the Tribunal found that the Registrar had no legal justification for rejecting the application to reserve the name and directed the Registrar to reserve Linda Mwananchi within seven days.

The decision comes amid a separate dispute over the name Linda, claimed by the Liberty National Democratic Alliance (LINDA), which had sought to assert rights over the name and its political identity.

The Tribunal, however, ruled that the reservation of the Linda name had lapsed after LINDA failed to make a formal application for provisional registration within the period prescribed by law.

The Tribunal noted that an applicant is required to make the necessary application within 90 days of reserving a proposed political party name. It found that LINDA had failed to meet the statutory requirement.

After examining the documents placed before it, the Tribunal said it had not found a formal application by LINDA seeking provisional registration within the prescribed period.

It further held that a letter relied upon by LINDA did not meet the legal threshold of an application for reservation or provisional registration of a political party.

Consequently, the Tribunal found that once the prescribed period expired without the required application being lodged, the reservation of the name Linda automatically lapsed and the name became available for use, subject to the requirements of the Political Parties Act.

The ruling also dealt with LINDA’s attempt to challenge the reservation of Linda Mwananchi, with the Tribunal finding that the two names were distinct.

According to the Tribunal, Linda and Linda Mwananchi are different names and do not create a likelihood of confusion.

The Tribunal further held that the interested party in the proceedings was not a fully registered political party and therefore lacked the requisite standing or jurisdiction to advance some of the claims it had raised. The pleadings relating to those claims were consequently struck out.

On the application concerning Linda Mwananchi, the Tribunal found that the Registrar’s decision declining to reserve the name was without legal justification.

It therefore set aside the Registrar’s decision and ordered the reservation of the name within seven days.

The Tribunal, however, declined all the other prayers sought by the parties.

The ruling gives Sifuna’s movement a legal opening to formalise its political identity under the Linda Mwananchi brand, although reservation of a name does not by itself amount to full registration of a political party.

The dispute over the name has been closely watched as Sifuna and his allies prepare their political plans ahead of the 2027 General Election. The movement has used Linda Mwananchi extensively during its rallies and mobilisation activities across the country.

Sifuna had previously maintained that his fight with the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties was primarily about protecting the movement’s name and brand rather than securing another political party.

The Tribunal had earlier allowed Sifuna’s team to reserve The Mwananchi Party pending determination of the dispute and temporarily barred the Registrar from processing or registering Linda Mwananchi or a similar name for another applicant.

The latest ruling now directs the Registrar to proceed with the reservation of Linda Mwananchi, while establishing that the earlier reservation of the name Linda by LINDA had lapsed for failure to complete the required registration process within the statutory period.