Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna is facing calls to resign from the Senate after taking over The Equitable Party (TEP), a move that has opened a fresh legal and political debate over elected leaders who change political parties before the 2027 General Election.
Sifuna unveiled TEP in Nairobi on October 4, where he was installed as party leader and presented as the party’s presidential candidate. The new outfit is intended to provide a political vehicle for the Linda Mwananchi Movement, which Sifuna has been building as a platform around equality, accountability and constitutionalism.
The launch, however, has immediately attracted scrutiny over Sifuna’s position as an elected ODM senator.
Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma has challenged Sifuna to resign as Nairobi Senator and seek a fresh mandate under TEP. Kaluma argues that by forming and taking leadership of another political party, Sifuna has effectively ceased to be an ODM member and should therefore vacate the seat he won on the party’s ticket.
The argument draws on Section 14A of the Political Parties Act, which provides that a person who forms or joins in the formation of another political party, among other specified actions, may be deemed to have resigned from their existing party. The law, however, also establishes a procedure through which a party must notify the member and provide an opportunity to be heard before the resignation is formally acted upon.
This has left the question of Sifuna’s Senate position at the centre of the emerging controversy. While his critics argue that the law requires him to relinquish the seat, the legal provisions also raise questions about the procedural steps necessary before a party membership change can have further consequences.
Sifuna’s political transition comes against the backdrop of his fallout with ODM and his increasingly prominent role in the Linda Mwananchi movement. The decision to use TEP followed difficulties in establishing Linda Mwananchi as a fully registered political party in time for the 2027 election cycle. Reports indicate that taking over an already registered party provided an immediate political vehicle while the movement pursued its preferred identity.
The party may not retain the TEP name for long. On Wednesday, its National Executive Council approved plans to rebrand the outfit as the Linda Mwananchi Movement, while the Registrar of Political Parties has approved changes to the names of its officials.
The controversy places Sifuna at an important crossroads. His supporters view the new party as a vehicle for expanding the Linda Mwananchi agenda ahead of 2027, while his critics are demanding that his political transition be accompanied by a fresh electoral mandate.
With political parties required to complete key preparations ahead of the 2027 election, the dispute over Sifuna’s Senate seat could become an early test of how Kenya’s political-party laws are applied to elected officials seeking new political homes.