Kenya Kwanza, Azimio wrangles stall formation of House teams

The grandstanding between the Azimio la Umoja coalition and the ruling Kenya Kwanza Alliance has paralysed the reconstitution of Parliamentary committees ahead of the Tuesday deadline for the formation of the House teams.

The Sunday Standard has established that power plays between the two parties- premised on two separate court orders declaring both as the majority in the House- could further delay the process of reconstituting the committees beyond Tuesday unless the intervention of party principles Raila Odinga and President William Ruto comes in timeously.

The drama started on January 28 when Wetangula directed that the committee be reconstituted to signal the start of 4th session of the 13th parliament.

According to a source who sits within the House Business Committee (HBC), the leader of majority Sylvanus Osoro and his minority counterpart Millie Odhiambo are yet to submit the names of members to be included in the reconstituted House teams to the selection committee, which would then be expected to table the same before the House on Tuesday.

A shifting of stands by the parties’ principals on whether to ‘let go’ of prestigious committees being demanded by Azimio (in Kenya Kwanza’s case) and the ideal candidates to take up the chairmanship positions in the committees yanked from Kenya Kwanza’s grip (in ODM’s case) has further compounded the process.

At the heart of the delay, he revealed, is a push and pull specifically between the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party and the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party over the Budget and Appropriations Committee formerly steered by Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro.

“One day the Kenya Kwanza alliance is willing to let go of the Budget committee but the next it’s not. What has been happening is that shortly after an agreement has been made on who will chair the committee,  phone call from the party’s top brass comes in and changes everything,” stated the source.

Crosshead

Initially, in their bid to drop the ouster of Speaker Moses Wetangula and their claim to majority status, ODM was pushing for chairmanship in at least 10 committees with their focus being on the Budget, Trade and Industry, Energy, Health, labour, regional integration, Transport and finance teams.

But following the intervention of Ruto and Raila, the source disclosed, it has since been agreed that ODM will get 5 slots of committees normally chaired by the majority side. This was “concretized” after President Ruto and Raila’ meeting at the Mombasa State House on Monday.

The committees to be handed over to ODM include the Trade, Investment and Cooperatives Committee currently chaired by Embakasi North MP James Gakuya, the Regional Integration Committee chaired by Kipipiri legislator Wanjiku Muhia, and the Labour Committee chaired by Runyenjes lawmaker Eric Karemba. 

Chairpersons of targeted committees are former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua allies who will be facing the axe in the coming purge.

“I do not think the Finance Committee will be on the chopping block because the current chairperson Kimani Kuria has done nothing wrong and is loyal to his party. The case is also the same at the Health committee where Endebess MP Robert Pukose will continue holding the reins,” stated the source.

Crosshead

Infighting within the ODM party has also stalled the reconstitution process with different quarters expressing divergent views on who should take up the ceded chairmanship positions and that of the Public Accounts committee (PAC) which has not had a substantive chairperson since the exit of nominated MP John Mbadi to join the Ruto administration as the CS Treasury.

Saboti MP Caleb Amisi claimed on Thursday that he had been a victim of the infighting orchestrated by a section of the ODM party leadership Junet Mohammed.

“…I had been appointed as the PAC chairman by the party but the leader of Minority Junet and whip Millie Odhiambo have been taking me round in circles over the implementation of the same. All this time, they had their candidate, who is Otiende Amollo…when will we as a people (from the Luhya nation) get justice from the party?” he posed.

The matter has also been compounded by other Azimio parties, including Wiper, and Jubilee members competing for positions in the same committees.

As a result of the delay in the constitution of the committees, Speaker Wetangula has been forced to re-assign the consideration of the Budget Policy Statement (BPS) and the Medium-Term Debt Strategy, which were tabled in the House on February 13, 2025, to the Liaison Committee.

The Budget Supplementary Estimates II for the 2024/2025 financial year, which would ordinarily be considered by the Budget and appropriations committee are also currently being handled by the Liaison Committee.

As both coalitions continue to navigate the intricate balance of competing interests, focus will be on the House on Tuesday as either side of the political divide tables its committee membership.