President William Ruto’s legislative agenda could be thrown into disarray after former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s troops moved to take over the majority roles in Parliament.
Confusion reined the first sitting of the National Assembly on Tuesday after Azimio-affiliated MPs took up seats assigned for the majority side, citing the decision of the three-judge bench.
Speaker Moses Wetang’ula was caught in the crosshairs even as some of the lawmakers demanded his head over the decision he made in October 2022 which held that Kenya Kwanza had 179 MPs against Azimio’s 157.
The speaker threw in the towel and asked members to debate the matter, of which he is expected to make a finding and communicate to the House.
But even as the ruling is awaited, the Azimio side led by Suna East MP Junet Mohammed maintained that the decision by the courts was final, and be immediately implemented, unless appealed.
“There is no third way to go about the court ruling by three judges. It is either obeyed or appealed. This ruling must be respected. It cannot be taken jokingly,” Junet said.
Political watchers hold that the court ruling, if implemented, would affect the composition of the House committees, especially those where Ruto men are currently in charge.
The said House committees were formed in line with Speaker’s Moses Wetang’ula’s ruling which informed the minority and majority sides.
Nominations by parliamentary parties to the recently constituted Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission selection panel were also guided by the ruling.
National Assembly Standing Orders provide that the membership of each committee reflects the relative majorities of the seats held by each of the parliamentary parties.
Azimio teams, therefore, have the right to claim the posts of chairmen of the various departmental committees which are currently occupied by Ruto allies.
This is especially coming at a time ODM honchos are sending mixed signals about their support for Ruto.
Without an appeal, Ruto’s troops stand to lose slots in the Parliamentary Service Commission whose composition was also informed by the speaker’s decision.
Key committees likely to be affected include those of finance, budget, defence, security, health, agriculture, blue economy, ICT, education and energy.
Others are environment, social protection, labour, lands, justice, trade, transport, housing, and sports committees.
Minority side is the majority in audit committees including Public Accounts Committee, Public Investments Committee and Special Funds committee.
The majority side dominates committees with administrative roles such as appointments, selection, House business, powers and privileges.
The House Business Committee, which decides the agenda for MPs’ debate, was the first casualty of the standoff. Its composition is also determined by the two sides.
“The big question I am asking myself, who is going to be the chair of the committees based on the majority and minority?” Nominated MP Sabina Chege asked.
Azimio troops warned that there would be a crisis if the matter is not addressed, maintaining that they won’t budge.
They held that the contention was the speaker’s ruling, arguing that without an appeal Azimio should be given its rightful slots.
“When the decision is quashed, the leader of minority becomes the majority leader by operation of the law even if you do nothing. Let it be appealed but until then let Junet Mohamed be the majority leader,” Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo said.
Azimio, through Mbita North MP Millie Odhiambo, have formally written to the speaker to implement the ruling of the court and appoint her as majority whip and Junet Mohamed as Majority leader.
