Western Leaders Caucus addressing members of the press in defence of the Speaker of the National Assembly on February 13, 2025/ENOS TECHESome MPs from Western Kenya have come to the defence of National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangúla over what they described as a sustained attempt to vilify him by sections of the media.
The legislators under the Western Leadership Caucus say the vilification stems from the speaker's guidance on the House leadership.
On Tuesday, during the resumption of sittings after the long December recess, Azimio and Kenya Kwanza were deadlocked over who between them should is the majority side after the High Court in a February 7 ruling, said the speaker erred in assigning the role to Kenya Kwanza in his October 6, 2022 ruling.
In a ruling delivered Wednesday, Wetang'ula said Azimio has 154 members while Kenya Kwanza has 165 in the 13th Parliament.
"Arising from the foregoing, the Kenya Kwanza is the majority and the Azimio is the minority. The leadership of the House remains unchanged," the Speaker stated.
The MPs said even before the speaker delivered the ruling, a section of the media ran misleading reports in anticipation of the speaker's guidance.
"In a most unfair manner, the Speaker has been prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced in the court of public opinion by sections of the press. Even after issuing guidance to the House, the vilification has continued unabated," the MPs said in a joint statement at Parliament buildings.
The lot, comprising 15 legislators led by Sirisia's John Waluke, Vihiga Woman Rep. Beatrice Adagala, Mary Emaase (Teso), and Amboko Milemba (Emuhaya), said the vilification has in some incidences been amplified to include attacks on Wetangúla's professional standing and reputation as a senior lawyer and jurist.
The MPs said the Speaker was elected overwhelmingly by members of Parliament and enjoys the support and confidence of the entire House, which abides by and respect his guidance to the National Assembly.
"As Members of Parliament who participated in the election of the Speaker, we wish to note our serious disapproval of this veiled narrative that we suspect is sponsored by serious enemies of progress. We shall not allow any person to attempt to downgrade the status of the speaker," the MPs said.
Unable to issue a ruling on Tuesday, Wetangúla gave MPs the leeway to debate the court's ruling and share their opinion on what they made of the verdict vis-à-vis his 2022 ruling on the majority and minority leadership.
The Azimio side, led by Suna East MP Junet Mohamed denounced their minority status and insisted that they would go by what the court said and proceeded to occupy seats reserved for the majority side.
Having listened to both sides, Wetangula said he would guide the House accordingly on the contentious issue Wednesday afternoon.
When he finally rendered his ruling maintaining the status quo of the House leadership, the Azimio members stormed out of the House in protest and addressed the media within Parliament precincts, where they said they were considering a number of options, including instituting impeachment proceedings against Wetangula.
Junet accused the speaker of issuing contradicting rulings regarding party membership.
“The speaker has made a ruling on majority and minority; the courts categorically said majority is decided by the sovereign will of the people. It is only in Kenya that majority is decided by defections,” Junet said.
“The other day he ruled Jubilee is not a member of Azimio, today he has given them to Azimio. We disagree completely with the ruling of the Speaker.”
Earlier, while speaking on the floor of the House, Junet said Azimio would withdraw its members from the all-important House Business Committee.
