‘It is impractical’ Kenya Kwanza MPs dismiss Court ruling on assembly majority

Kenya Kwanza Members of Parliament have rejected the court decision terming them as the minority of the National Assembly.

The legislators now insist that the assembly is an independent arm of government and it’s matters should not be dictated by the judiciary.

According to Ugenya Member of Parliament David Ochieng’, the ruling is impractical and unworkable as political allegiance changes after election adding that the matter should be addressed within parliament.

“I don’t want this to be an issue that depends on what the judges say. This should be left to Parliament to decide because that is how Parliament works,” the legislator stated.

Ochieng’ questioned the practicality of implementing the ruling saying it is impossible to be implemented.

“How is it possible to implement it now?” he questioned.

Laikipia Woman Representative Jane Kagiri criticized the ruling adding that some parties joined Azimio due to pressure and have since left and joined Kenya Kwanza.

“The ruling has been overtaken by events because many of these parties have left, and I remember most of them raised issues of coercion for them to have remained under Azimio at the time,” the woman rep stated.

According to Eldas MP Adan Kenyan, the judgement is meant to undermine the ruling party as he maintains that the William Ruto led coalition is the majority based on the realignment of political parties.

“That judgment attempts to micromanage Parliament; it attempts to deal with political issues that ideally should be left to politicians. This ruling has no effect in law,”the Eldas MP stated.

On Friday last week, a three judge bench declared that the Kenya Kwanza coalition does not hold the majority status in the National Assembly.

The bench which consisted of John Chigiti, Lawrence Mugambi, and Jairus Ngaah also ruled that Speaker Wetang’ula’s continued leadership of Ford Kenya is unconstitutional, stating that he should have relinquished his position as party leader upon assuming the Speaker role.

“The dual role is unlawful and unconstitutional. Once he became Speaker of the National Assembly, he ceased to be the leader of Ford Kenya party,” they ruled.

The court’s decision arose from Wetang’ula’s declaration on October 6, 2022, which reassigned 14 members from various parties to Kenya Kwanza, tipping the balance in favour of the coalition and allowing it to claim majority status.

However, the judges found that the Speaker had no legal basis for making the reassignments and nullified his decision.