NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 7 – The High Court has declared the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Alliance coailition as the Majority Party in the National Assembly.
In its ruling, the three-judge bench consisting of Justices John Chigiti, Lawrence Mugambi, and Jairus Ngaah contended that Speaker Moses Wetangula should have followed the law when he declared Kenya Kwanza the Majority Party.
It argued that Wetangula had violated the constitution in issuing the ruling on October 6 2022 on the floor of the house which was deemed ‘Solomonic’.
He had ruled that Kenya Kwanza has 179 members in the House against Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition party’s 157.
However, the ruling coalition emerged as majority following a post coalition agreement as 14 members from the opposition coalition and independent candidates shifted to Azimio.
“By assigning Kenya Kwanza the 14 members of the parties without any reason and declaring Kenya Kwanza as the majority leader, it follows that the Speaker violated the Constitution,” the court ruled.
In the judgement, the bench emphasized that the Speaker is supposed to act as a neutral arbiter.
According to the three-judge bench, the Speaker’s decisions should be independent and devoid of any political influence emphasizing the importance of impartiality and adherence to constitutional principles.
“The speaker can’t fault the registrar of political parties. She couldn’t provide what she did not have…The speaker ought to have exhibited the agreement which were alleged to have been presented during the debate without the post-election coalition agreements he had not basis to this regard” court ruled
The court ruled that Speaker’s action which incline towards political influence will ultimately erode the public confidence in Parliament due to violation of constitutional principles.
According to the petition,the Azimio coalition became the majority party in the National Assembly after the August 9, 2022 General Elections.
