Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna on Friday, June 16, hinted at plans to kick out lawmakers who voted in favour of the Finance Bill 2023 out of the ODM party.
Speaking during an event in Western Kenya, the ODM Secretary General explained that the four lawmakers betrayed the party's stand on the Finance Bill claiming that the MPs were working with President William Ruto.
The four lawmakers who voted in favour of the contentious bill were Nairobi County's Esther Passaris, Elisha Odhiambo (Gem), Aden Adow (Wajir South), and Caroli Omondi (Suba South).
"We have written to the MPs who have met Ruto and voted for the Finance Bill. As ODM, we don’t want them in our party," he stated.
During his speech, he also revealed how some ODM lawmakers facing disciplinary for failing to show up in Parliament during the Finance Bill debate were scheming to avoid punishment.
Sifuna indicated that some of the lawmakers claimed to be sick during the Wednesday, June 14, debate hence skipping the session altogether.
He added that other lawmakers argued that they were engaged in important meetings.
Nonetheless, the party's Secretary General maintained that ODM will take action against the 24 legislators for being unavailable to fulfill the mandate they were elected for.
"There are those elected to parliament to defend their constituents. Now they are writing to us claiming that they were sick and giving us many other excuses.
"You were elected for one purpose and that is to be available when voting on important things is being done," he stated.
Some of the MPs who skipped included Embakasi East's Babu Owino, Otiende Amollo (Rarieda) and John Mbadi (nominated).
Azimio failed to prevent the Finance Bill from sailing through to the third reading after only 81 MPs voted to shoot down the bill. 176 MPs, on the other hand, voted to support the bill.
Consequently, ODM commenced disciplinary action against the lawmakers citing an uproar from their supporters.
However, some of the MPs including Babu Owino explained that they had sought permission to miss the sittings.
“I realised that the speaker made some changes and ruled that voting was to take place on Wednesday. By that time, so many members were anticipating that voting will occur next week.
"That explains why so many members, especially from the Azimio Coalition missed the sitting,” he stated.
