Moses Wetangula: Biased Speaker

Parliament resumes today for its fourth session after a two-month break, amid questions on the implications of last week’s court decision on who should hold the Majority position in the House.

With political coalitions now evolving into a broad-based Government, there are arguments that Parliament should be allowed to make independent decisions, while court rulings must be practical.

The debate over who holds the majority in the House seemed to end on October 6, 2022, when Speaker of the National Assembly Moses Wetang’ula made a ruling as the 13th Parliament commenced. However, this decision appears to have had ripple effects, if the latest court decision is anything to go by.

On the first sitting on October 4, the Speaker raised an issue whereby the current Minority Whip, Junet Mohammed had signed off a letter as the ‘Majority Leader of Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya coalition party’.

In a letter dated September 21, 2022, Junet listed House leaders, with Opiyo Wandayi as Leader of the Majority, Robert Mbui as Deputy Leader of the Majority, himself as Majority Whip, and Sabina Chege as Deputy Majority Whip.

READ: Which Majority? Judges' shocker to Kenya Kwanza leadership in National Assembly

Similarly, the Speaker received another letter dated September 22, 2022, from South Mugirango MP Silvanus Osoro, who signed off as Majority Chief Whip of the Kenya Kwanza Alliance.

It also indicated that Kimani Ichung’wah would serve as Leader of the Majority party and Owen Baya of Kilifi North as Deputy Leader of the Majority.

On the same day, he said he received a letter from Ichung’wah, who had signed off as Leader of the Majority Party. The letter conveyed that the Kenya Kwanza Alliance had held its Parliamentary Group meeting, electing Osoro as Chief Whip and Naomi Jillo Waqo as Deputy Chief Whip.

“Faced with these conflicting correspondences, you will agree with me that me and the Clerk can't discharge those requirements of the Standing Orders at this moment. You will also agree with me that from the foregoing, pertinent questions arise at this moment. These are; Who is the bona fide Leader of the Majority Party and who is the bona fide Leader of the Minority Party in this House?” Wetang’ula said.

A three-judge bench comprising Justices John Chigiti, Jairus Ngaah and Lawrence Mugambi ruled that the dual role played by Wetangula is unlawful and unconstitutional.

“The holding of the Speaker as leader of Ford-Kenya and, at the same time, a key official in KK coalition evokes the appearance of bias and undermines the independence of Parliament,” said Mugambi.

The judges in their unanimous decision said Wetangula cannot perform the functions of a political leader as long as he is the Speaker.

The three-judge bench ruled that the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Alliance is the bonafide majority alliance in the National Assembly.

READ: Raila takes the upper hand in Parliament after court decision

In a landmark decision, the court said Wetangula acted unreasonably when he assigned to the Kenya Kwanza alliance the 14 members of the Azimio coalition who had resigned from the outfit. The case was filed in court by Ken Njagi, an advocate.

Based on Gazette Notices, the composition of the National Assembly by individual political parties was UDA with 145, ODM had 86, Jubilee Party with 28, Wiper with 26 UDM and ANC with eight each, Ford Kenya with six.

Similarly, KANU had six followed by DAP-K with five, PAA had three, Kenya Union Party with three, United Party of Independence Alliance, Maendeleo Chap Chap and The Service Party with two each. Others are United Progressive Alliance, National Agenda Party, National Ordinary People Empowerment Union, Grand Dream Development Party, Democratic Party, MDG, and Chama Cha Mashinani with one Mp respectively.

The letter by the Registrar of Political Parties gave the cumulative number of members of the constituent parties of what the Registrar refers to as the Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya Coalition Party as 171 Members against 165 Members of the constituent parties of what the Registrar refers to as the Kenya Kwanza Alliance.

“It is, however, notable that a total of 14 Members are drawn from four parties which are UDM, MDG, MCCP and PAA who according to the letter of the Registrar have filed constitutional petitions and objections against their membership in Azimio. This implies that the letter from the Registrar may not be used to compute the membership of the Majority and Minority parties by dint of the admission contained in it on the existing constitutional petitions and objections,” the Speaker said.

Wetang’ula said it would be imprudent to treat 14 Members elected to the House under United Democratic Movement (UDM), Pamoja African Alliance (PAA), Maendeleo Chap Chap and Movement for Democratic Growth (MDG) as part of a coalition they expressly distanced both themselves and their parties from.

Wetang’ula said the 14 Members wrote to him distancing themselves and their parties from Azimio Coalition and called upon him to recognise their coalition agreement with Kenya Kwanza with respect to the business of the House.

“With the 14 members, the membership of the Kenya Kwanza Coalition stands at 179 members while the membership of the Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya Coalition Party stands at 157 members. This, by implication, indicates that the Kenya Kwanza Coalition is the Majority Party and the Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya Coalition Party is the Minority Party in this House,” read the October 6 ruling.

The Speaker made a ruling following a heated debate to determine who the majority or minority parties were.

The then-nominated MP, John Mbadi for instance had stated: “There is no contention over which members constitute the leadership of both the Kenya Kwanza Coalition and the Azimio la Umoja - One Kenya Coalition. The only contention that exists (and which formed the basis of the debate that ensued) is over which of the two is the majority.”

Wetang’ula explained that a coalition is defined as an alliance of two or more political parties formed to pursue a common goal and is governed by a written agreement that is deposited with the Registrar.

According to the Speaker, in the last general election, it was evident that Azimio la Umoja - One Kenya Coalition party elected to behave as several political parties in certain categories of elections and as one political party about the presidential election.

“It is without 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,” he said.

After the Speaker made his ruling, the then Leader of Minority, Opiyo Wandayi said: “I listened keenly to your ruling on this contentious issue. Whereas, of course, I do not agree with it, I would wish to acknowledge the fact that this House operates in a quasi-judicial manner. Therefore, in line with rules of natural justice, tenets of democracy and established jurisprudence, I would wish to give notice that we shall be moving you to review your decision.”

But the Speaker insisted that a ruling such as the one he had made was not subject to debate.

As he closed the debate on matter, Wetang’ula urged the minority to carry out their job to oversight robustly.

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“I want to encourage the House to note that a decision has been made. Let the chips fall where they may. Take up your offices. Carry out a robust and vibrant oversight of the Government and make sure that public resources from taxpayers are put to good use. Audit their use vigorously and make sure that you do everything possible within the law to ensure that we have a responsible Parliament, with both sides being responsive to the needs of the people of Kenya.

“There will be no further debate on this matter. You know the rules. You are all very senior Members. And the new colleagues who have come in want to learn from you. Do not give them misdirection on the procedure.”

 Fast-forward to 2025 and a landmark court ruling is poised to cause a major shakeup in the House.

According to the ruling, Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya coalition party is the majority in the National Assembly but this has since attracted criticism and support in equal measure.

Minority Whip, Millie Odhiambo posted after the ruling: “Majority Whip until further notice, sawa?”

Wiper Party leader, Kalonzo Musyoka has since urged Azimio Mps to take the Majority side as the House resumes today. He said that he would call a parliamentary group meeting on Wednesday to decide the way forward.

Similarly, Siaya Governor James Orengo has told ODM to embrace the court ruling and implement it.