Kenya Kwanza Has the Majority in the National Assembly, Speaker Moses Wetangula Announces

 

Speaker Rt. Hon. Moses Wetangula

President William Ruto is a happy man after the Speaker Rt. Hon. Moses Wetangula announced Kenya Kwanza as the coalition with highest number of elected legislatures in the National Assembly.

The ruling comes on the backdrop of a standoff between the two coalitions as to who truly controls the numbers in the National Assembly. 

Azimio-One Kenya Coalition Party had contested that they had the majority in the National Assembly having had 171 legislatures elected to the national assembly with Kenya Kwanza having a total of 165 legislatures according to the Registrar of Political Parties.

Four political parties; United Democratic Alliance (UDM), Movement for Democracy and Growth (MDG), Maendeleo Chap Chap (MCC) and Pamoja African Alliance (PAA) and its 14 legislators disassociated themselves from the Azimio Coalition Political party. The registrar had noted that the four belonged to Azimio-One Kenya Coalition Party by deem of the Coalition Agreement they had signed before the election.

However, the Registrar of Political Parties failed to provide the requisite Coalition Agreement that tied the four parties to Azimio-One Kenya Coalition Party post the August 9th election. The Speaker ruled that documents provided by the registrar were not verifiable.  

The 14 legislators from UDM, MDG, MCC and PAA political parties wrote to the Speaker of National Assembly to denounce their association with the Azimio-One Kenya Coalition Party insisting that they had entered into a post-election agreement with Kenya Kwanza.

"The members elected to this under the four parties have exercised their freedom of association under Article 36 of the Constitution. They have already migrated to the Kenya Kwanza coalition both in writing and in action", read part of the determination by the Speaker.

The four parties had signed a coalition agreement with Kenya Kwanza and deposited the agreement with the Registrar of Political Parties post-August election.

The UDA party had the most legislators with 145 followed by ODM with 86. Jubilee Party had 28 legislators, Wiper 26 and UDM 8. The ANC and Ford Kenya Parties had 8 and 6 legislators respectively. KANU had 6 legislators, DAP-K 5 legislators with PAA and KUP having 3 legislators each. 

UPIA, MCC, and TSP parties each had 2 legislators in the National Assembly with UPA, NARK, NOPEU, GDDP, DP, MDG and CCM having 1 legislator each.

"I'm therefore persuaded that the 14 members and parties are part of the Kenya Kwanza Coalition" read part of the determination by the Speaker that relegated Azimio-One Kenya Coalition Political Party to the minority in the National Assembly with 157 legislators. Kenya Kwanza Coalition had the majority with 179 legislators.

The Speaker said of his determination of recognizing the 14 legislators and their parties as part of the Kenya Kwanza coalition as being "fair and in accordance with the previous ruling by my predecessors on related matters."