Embattled ODM Secretary-General Edwin Sifuna received a major reprieve yesterday after the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal directed that the party should not file his removal with the Registrar of Political Parties pending an attempt at internal dispute resolution.

The tribunal’s bench led by Acting Chairperson Gad Gathu, while dismissing Sifuna’s case for failing to first attempt the party’s Internal Dispute Resolution Mechanisms (IDRM) before approaching the tribunal, invoked its inherent jurisdiction to issue a protective order that effectively freezes his ouster, shielding him from immediate formalisation of his removal just hours before ODM’s Special Delegates Convention scheduled for today in Nairobi.