Langata MP Felix Odiwuor, also known as Jalang’o, has lamented the state Azimio la Umoja Coalition party’s loss of majority leadership in the National Assembly.
Jalang’o blamed the loss on party members who left the camp, saying the Raila Odinga-led caravan was doomed after speaker Moses Wetang’ula ruled that rivals Kenya Kwanza were the majority side.
“It is these 14 people who changed everything for us. Right now, Azimio would have been the majority buana! Its over for us,” he said.
Wetang’ula declared the Kenya Kwanza Coalition the majority party in the House on Thursday, explaining that no member of the 13th Parliament was elected under the Azimio banner.
“The Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition political party nominated members under the names of its constituent parties,” Wetangula said.
The speaker called the Azimio’s claim to majority status into question, claiming that some of its members had defected from the coalition.
Wetang’ula stated that the Azimio coalition party was originally made up of 26 political parties, but some of them left after the August 9 general election.
The United Democratic Movement (UDM) and the Maendeleo Chap Chap party, led by former Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua, are two of them.
Jalang’o, on the other hand, questioned Mutua’s justification for abandoning Azimio, claiming that he signed the coalition agreement under duress.
He claimed Mutua was lying when he claimed he was forced to sign the agreement.
“Can you imagine Mutua saying he was pushed to sign an agreement he didn’t know the details? We are not the custodian of coalition agreements, it’s the registrar of political parties who sent the letter that said Azimio was the majority party,” Jalang’o said.
Mutua claimed that before joining Kenya Kwanza, he was sidelined in Azimio’s affairs and was denied the opportunity to field candidates in some areas.
In August, the United Democratic Movement (UDM) announced its withdrawal from Azimio and joined the Kenya Kwanza alliance.
Mandera Senator Ali Roba, the party’s leader, cited a lack of transparency in Azimio as the reason for UDM’s departure from the organization.
