The National Assembly Speaker, Moses Wetangula, has ruled that President William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza has the majority of members in the 13th parliament.
Wetangula declared during a house sitting on Thursday, October 6, that Kenya Kwanza is a coalition of parties with majority members and, as such, satisfied the requirements of the law as the genuine majority side.
Wetangula cited Constitutional Article 108, which states that the Leader of the Majority Party will be the leader of the largest party or coalition of parties.
“The Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition political party nominated members under the names of its constituent parties,” he said.
He also poked holes in the Azimio, claiming that some Azimio members had denounced the party.
According to him, the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition party originally included 26 political parties, but some of them later left the coalition.
“In a letter write the member of Ugenya David Ochieng terminated its membership with Azimio,” Wetang’ula said.
The Speaker further stated that he noted inconsistencies in documents shared by the Registrar of Political Parties Anne Nderitu.
“May I report that surprisingly the Registrar of Political Parties this morning submitted to me the documents said to be the certified copies of the coalition agreements for the Kenya Kwanza Coalition and the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition Party. A perusal of the documents presented by the honourable Junet Mohammed and the Registrar of political parties reveals glaring inconsistencies in both documents.
“You will agree with me honourable members that there would be chaos in this house if I was to make rulings on the basis of unauthenticated, unverifiable and inadmissible documents that affect the rights of members.”
He also claimed that a number of members had made allegations of coercion and duress while entering into agreements with one of the coalitions.
“This if true is a serious affront to the democratic rights and freedoms that we enjoy as citizens of this country,” he said.
He further explained that Azimio la Umoja had no elected member under its banner after the only two people who flew the coalition’s banner flopped at the polls.
“What’s clear from the constitution is that the leader of the majority party must lead either a party or a coalition of parties in the National Assembly. It is without a doubt that if it were to be considered as a political party, Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition Party has no elected member in this house today as no member was elected under its banner,” the Speaker clarified.
