Members of Parliament on Wednesday, January 5, passed the Political Parties Amendment Bill despite several attempts by allies of Deputy President William Ruto to stall the process.
The Bill was passed after amendments by the DP allies failed to sail through before the floor of the house as pro-handshake MPs flexed their muscles in a show of numbers.
In a statement report to the speaker Justin Muturi, by Narok Woman Representative, Soipan Tuya, the legislator announced that the house had voted to pass the Bill which was in its Third reading stage.
"Hon. speaker I beg to report that the Committee of the Whole House has considered the Political Parties (Amendment) Bill (NA Bill No. 56 of 2021) and approved the same with amendments," she stated.
In a victory speech before the floor of the house, Majority leader Amos Kimunya downplayed accusations that the Bill was only beneficial to Raila’s Azimio la Umoja stating that all political parties would benefit from the Bill.
He defended the process in which the Bill was passed amidst the chaos that was witnessed on the floor of the house, insisting that the Bill underwent public participation.
“There has been lots of talk about public participation about this bill since 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and I really want to thank the people who interacted with the bill,” Kimunya stated.
Additionally, some of the pro- handshake MPs hit out at the DP for claiming that he had numbers in parliament even as they shot down amendments by Ruto allies.
Previously, Ruto had stated that he would block the Bill from sailing through the house citing that he had the support of over 150 MPs in parliament.
“I want to thank the people who helped us pass this bill, I can’t thank those who came here to fight us, we have won today as the people who were together as the Azimio group.
"We have defeated TangaTanga very badly, they are bruised and I don’t know if they will recover from this,” Suna East MP, Junet Mohamed stated.
Following the passing of the Bill by the NA, another showdown between the UDA brigade and the handshake team is expected as the Bill moves to the Senate for debate.
However, Ruto allies have stated that they will move to court in the event that the Bill sails through the Senate.
