Farah Maalim declines Wiper leadership position

By Robert Mutasi 

Farah Maalim, the MP for Dadaab constituency, has dropped out of the position of Deputy Party Leader within Wiper Party, a post which he insists he never applied or asked for. 

Maalim has said he was shocked when he learned about his appointment on social media. 

"For the record, I never asked Wiper Party to retain me as Deputy Party Leader, and this is why I was shocked when I saw it on social media that I had been gazetted for the position," said Maalim.

Elaborately clear, Maalim averred that he has no interest in the position and sealed his notion of rebuffing the offer.

 "I have absolutely no intention of retaining the position of Deputy Party Leader in the Wiper Party. I politely decline the offer and will formally communicate the same to the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties," he said.

The matter has now morphed into a wider dispute between him and the ORPP, with Maalim accusing it of gross negligence and violation of the law. 

He cited the failure by the Registrar's office to advertise the intention of the Wiper Party in the Kenya Gazette within the required fourteen-day period as set out in Section 20(1) of the Political Parties Act.

"What has taken place is a gross dereliction of duty and breach of the law by the very office tasked to enforce," said Maalim.

The Wiper Party has equally written to the ORPP seeking a public explanation over why it took four months to gazette the party officers. 

Expressing frustration, the party wondered why the Registrar waited until September 23, 2024, to publish the information which was eventually gazetted on October 4, 2024.

"We strongly feel that this is not bureaucratic negligence but a deliberate and intentional obstruction by the ORPP, for reasons only known to them," said Wiper Party.