Former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party has threatened to pull out of the Raila Odinga-led Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition after its nominee was locked out of the lucrative Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC).
In a press statement, Jubilee MPs accused Azimio leaders in Parliament of short-changing them in the three available slots for the coalition.
The MPs argue that the three slots were to be shared, one each for Jubilee, Mr Odinga’s ODM and Kalonzo Musyoka’s Wiper.
But Azimio leaders presented – and Parliament approved – the names of Likoni MP Mishi Mboko (ODM), Patrick Makau (Wiper), and Okong’o Omogeni (ODM).
On Thursday, Jubilee MPs Sabina Chege (nominated), Adan Keynan (Eldas), Sarah Korere (Laikipia North), Abdul Haji (Garissa), Ruweida Mohamed (Lamu East), Amos Mwago (Starehe), Fatuma Dulo (Isiolo) and Abdi Shuriye (Mbalambala) protested the move, saying they will convene an urgent Parliamentary Group meeting to review its relationship with other coalition partners.
Show of impunity
“We, the leadership of the Jubilee Party across the political divide are saddened by this show of impunity and urge the Speakers of both Houses to suspend the approval of the nominees to PSC until the matter has been resolved by the minority coalition,” Ms Chege said.
Ms Korere warned coalition partners, specifically ODM, that they will not be treated as a second-class party in the coalition, because they were not coerced to join it.XXXX
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“We are very saddened by the political antics by our partners in Azimio. We were not coerced to join Azimio. We joined willingly and we will leave willingly because we have witnessed political banditry first hand,” Mr Korere said.
Jubilee had protested the move to National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula, proposing that the process be halted until the minority puts its house in order.
However, Mr Wetang’ula, responding to the letter from Jubilee on the matter, said the party made the claims after the House had already pronounced itself.
Mr Wetang’ula also said the Azimio agreement that Jubilee is basing its claim on for a slot makes no mention of the sharing of the positions on the commission.
“The horse has already bolted and the stable is already closed, my hands are tied with [the] law,” Mr Wetang’ula said.
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On Wednesday, senators approved Azimio's move to withdraw Ms Dullo from the nominations to the commission, replacing her with Mr Omogeni, the Nyamira senator.
This is after senators amended the list of nominees approved by the National Assembly last week.
Minority Leader Stewart Madzayo told the House that they were deleting the name of Ms Dullo and substituting it with that of Mr Omogeni after Azimio held a meeting on the matter and agreed on his name.
In the press statement, Mr Keynan called the Azimio leadership to convene an urgent meeting to resolve the matter.
“We are the second largest party in the coalition after ODM, we therefore deserve a slot [on] the commission. Give it to us and we will decide as a party what to do with it,” Mr Keynan said.
Leadership wrangles
Mr Keynan said Sirisia MP John Waluke, who is detained at the Kamiti Maximum Security Prison, is their preferred candidate for the slot.
The protest by Jubilee brings to the fore the intense leadership
The protest by Jubilee brings to the fore the intense leadership wrangles witnessed in Azimio since the start of the life of the 13th Parliament.
The coalition has struggled to put its house in order in Parliament as intense leadership rivalry has clouded it.
Jubilee secretary-general Jeremiah Kioni told the Nation that as far as he is concerned the party has one slot on the PSC and their representative is Mr Waluke.
“Mr Waluke is our representative. Anything other than that can be done in other committees but not at the commission,” Mr Kioni said
In a November 2 letter to Speaker Wetang’ula, Mr Kioni notified him that their representative is Mr Waluke.
The issue of representation on the PSC, he said, is a party matter that only secretaries-general of the respective parties should handle.
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