National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula has delivered his ruling on which coalition between Kenya Kwanza and Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Alliance is the majority side.
Wetangula declares majority coalition in National Assembly
Speaker Moses Wetangula has delivered his ruling on which coalition between Kenya Kwanza and Azimio-OKA is the majority side in the National Assembly.
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Speaking in the National Assembly Chambers on October 6, 2022, Wetangula ruled that Kenya Kwanza was the majority side, effectively placing Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichung'wa as the majority leader.
He ruled that the Azimio la Umoja-OKA had 157 MPs against Kenya Kwanza which had 179 MPs.
He criticised that the Azimio la Umoja-OKA presented itself as both a political party as well as a coalition of parties.
"It is without a doubt that if it were to be considered as a political party, Azimio La Umoja -One Kenya Coalition has no elected member in this house today," he went on.
The speaker noted that a number of parties which were members of the Azimio-OKA had written to him, denouncing association with the coalition and pledging loyalty to Kenya Kwanza.
"Several members said to belong to the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya coalition party have formally written to my office to denounce their association with the party," he said.
He also expunged documents presented in the house as the Azimio la Umoja-OKA coalition aggreement, citing inconsitencies and suspicious features.
"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 said.
Supremacy Battle
Both the Kenya Kwanza and Azimio la Umoja coalitions have been claiming to be the majority side, serving as one of Speaker Wetangula’s litmus tests in the house.
On Tuesday, October 4, he allowed MPs to debate the matter and announced that he would deliver a reasoned judgement on Thursday, October 6.
Azimio la Umoja-OKA MPs argued that according to the coalition agreement signed by its member parties, the defection of UDM MPs to Kenya Kwanza should not be recognised.
The documents signed by the member parties dictate that a member of the coalition can only exit three months after the August 9, General Election.
The Kenya Kwanza side, on the other hand, cited the legality of the post-election agreement signed between UDM and Kenya Kwanza leaders.
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