National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula has ruled that Kenya Kwanza remains the majority coalition and Azimio the minority, contrary to a High Court ruling days earlier.
While addressing Parliament on Wednesday, February 12, the speaker gave several grounds on why the High Court ruling was flawed as he maintained that the Parliament leadership would remain intact.
From Wetangula's ruling, Kenya Kwanza remains the majority with 165 MPs while Azimio remains the minority party with 154 MPs.
"Arising from the foregoing, the Kenya Kwanza is the majority and the Azimio is the minority. The Leadership of the House remains unchanged," Wetangula stated.
The speaker's decision was expectedly met with opposition from Azimio-allied leaders who decided to walk out of the house once Kimani Ichung'wah took to the podium.
Leading the protests at the house was Suba North Member of Parliament Millie Odhiambo who announced plans to pursue further legal action on the matter.
"As Azimio we very respectfully disagree with your communication... As Azimio, we are going to take further action," Millie Odhiambo announced.
In a session marred by confusion and power play, Wetangula had difficulty containing lawmakers affiliated with the Azimio coalition who were adamant that they were the majority in Parliament.
But Wetangula, in a detailed statement, justified his decision to declare Kenya Kwanza as the majority, as he poked holes in the court ruling made less than a week ago.
The speaker argued that certain aspects of the judgment violated the principle of impartiality, while also faulting the judgment made by Justices John Chigiti, Lawrence Mugambi, and Jairus Ngaah for allegedly having glaring factual and legal contradictions.
Wetangula also dismissed the notion that all legislations passed by the house have been voided because of the High Court ruling, saying, "There was no order from the court in this regard to precipitate this kind of thinking."
Dig Deeper: A breakdown of the members of the National Assembly revealed the 165 Kenya Kwanza majority seats stemmed from United Democratic Alliance (UDA) (145 members), Amani National Congress (ANC) (8), FORD - K (6), The Service Party (TSP) (2), National Agenda Party of Kenya (NAP-K) (1), Grand Dream Development Party (GDDP) (1), Democratic Party (DP) (1) and Chama Cha Mashinani (CCM) (1).
From the minority Azimio coalition, its 145 members comprises Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) with 83 members, Jubilee Party (JP) (28), Wiper Democratic Movement (WDM) (26), Kenya African National Union (KANU) (6), Democratic Alliance Party of Kenya (DAP-K) (5), Kenya Union Party (KUP) (3), United Party of Independent Alliance (UPIA) (2) and Movement for Democracy and Growth (MDG) (1).
Members from The United Democratic Movement (UDM), National Ordinary People Empowerment Union (NOPEU), United Progressive Alliance (UPA), Maendeleo Chap Chap Party (MCCP) Pamoja African Alliance (PAA) are classified as unaffiliated.
