Days after the High court ruled Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Alliance as the majority in the National Assembly, Kikuyu Member of Parliament and current leader of Majority Kimani Ichung’wa has deleted his title (Leader of Majority) on his Facebook profile.
The legislator has however not deleted the title on his X handle raising eyebrows on whether the lawmaker has accepted the fate of the recent ruling.
Last week, the high court overturned National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula’s decision that declared Kenya Kwanza the majority party.
In a ruling on Friday, Justice John Chigiti, Jairus Ngaah, and Lawrence Mugambi affirmed that Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Alliance is the rightful majority in the National Assembly.
The three judge bench faulted the Speaker’s decision to assign fourteen members of the Azimio Coalition to Kenya Kwanza without evidence of any post election agreement between the affected parties and the ruling coalition.
“The Speaker cannot fault the Registrar of Political Parties. She could not provide what she did not have.He ought to have presented the agreements that were allegedly submitted during the debate. Without the post-election coalition agreements, he had no basis for his decision,” the court ruled.
The 14 lawmakers in question were drawn from four parties – United Democratic Movement (UDM), Movement for Democracy and Growth (MDG), Maendeleo Chap Chap (MCC), and Pamoja African Alliance (PAA).
In his submission to the court, Wetang’ula had insisted that these members had formally denounced their association with Azimio, but the court found no legal grounds for their reassignment.
Justice Mugambi emphasised that the Speaker had no basis to disregard the Registrar of Political Parties’ records, which showed that as of April 21, 2022, Azimio comprised 26 political parties, while Kenya Kwanza had only 15.
“In the absence of any proof, the decision by Wetang’ula cannot be allowed to stand,” the court ruled.
The ruling stems from Speaker Wetang’ula’s October 6, 2022 decision, which tipped the parliamentary majority in favour of Kenya Kwanza.
According to his determination, Kenya Kwanza had 179 members, while Azimio had 157 however, there was a contradiction in the official documents.
Delivering the unanimous judgment, the judges criticised Wetang’ula’s actions, stressing the importance of impartiality in his role.
The ruling is expected to shape parliamentary proceedings as they resume from their two months recess tomorrow particularly in committee leadership, as oversight and audit committees are designated to the majority, while department and standing committees are controlled by the ruling coalition.
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