Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna’s Linda Mwananchi Movement has been dragged before the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal by a party member seeking to stop its National Delegates Conference scheduled for November 13, 2026, over allegations of illegal leadership appointments and exclusion of registered members.
Emmanuel Willyngtone Khamala, a registered member of the Equitable Party, wants the Tribunal to suspend the planned conference and declare the current leadership of Linda Mwananchi Movement illegally constituted pending official elections.
In a complaint filed on November 11, Khamala has listed the Equitable Party’s National Executive Committee, its National Elections Board, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties and the Political Parties Liaison Committee as respondents. Sifuna, the party leader, has been named as an interested party.
According to the court documents, the Equitable Party was formally launched at Serena Hotel in Nairobi on October 4, 2026, with Sifuna announced as its party leader. However, Khamala claims that four days later, on October 8, the party’s National Executive Committee passed a resolution to change its name to Linda Mwananchi Movement without adequately consulting registered members.
The complainant says members were aggrieved by the manner in which the party was conducting its affairs and wrote to the leadership on October 28, seeking to be involved in decisions affecting the organisation. He specifically wanted the party to stop the planned November 13 National Delegates Conference until members’ concerns were addressed.
Despite the objections, the party proceeded to launch Linda Mwananchi Movement on October 30, without, according to Khamala, addressing the issues raised by registered members. At the launch, the complainant alleges that the party unveiled individuals appointed to leadership positions without subjecting them to vetting or allowing other members to contest for the positions.
In his complaint, Khamala accuses the party leadership of making decisions that exclude ordinary members, warning of an “apparent and glaring danger to side-line, subrogate and exclude the duly registered and recognised members of TEP in the decisions of the party.” He further argues that the appointments were made contrary to the party constitution, which provides for participation by members in the selection of party officials.
On November 6, Khamala says he wrote another letter demanding explanations over the appointments and requesting that the planned delegates conference be temporarily stopped.
However, he claims the party failed to respond within the 48 hours provided for under its constitution, prompting him to seek the Tribunal’s intervention. The complainant is particularly concerned that the November 13 conference is expected to ratify the appointments made on October 30 without involving registered members.
He warns that allowing the meeting to proceed would cause “irreversible harm and prejudice” to members who have contributed to building the party but whose views have allegedly been ignored.
Khamala has asked the Tribunal to temporarily stop the conference pending the hearing and determination of the complaint. He also wants the Tribunal to declare the current leadership of Linda Mwananchi Movement illegally constituted and suspend it until official elections are conducted.
Among the other orders sought is a direction that the “voices, opinions, views and contributions of the registered members of the Party” be considered in the election or nomination of new party leaders.
The dispute comes barely six weeks after the Equitable Party was launched, with the party’s transformation into Linda Mwananchi Movement and the constitution of its leadership now facing a legal challenge.
