Azimio Senators Edwin Sifuna(Nairobi and Enock Wambua(Kitui) occupy majority seats in the Senate on February 11, 2025A section of MPs affiliated with the opposition on Tuesday took seats reserved for the majority party in the National Assembly.
The Azimio MPs blocked Deputy Majority Leader Owen Baya, on behalf of the majority leader, from tabling reports as required by the Standing Orders.
The move follows a High Court ruling that declared the Azimio La Umoja Coalition Party the majority in the House.
As the National Assembly resumed from a two-month recess, Azimio-allied MPs sat on the right-hand side of the chamber, a section traditionally reserved for government-affiliated lawmakers.
On October 6, 2022, National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula ruled that the Kenya Kwanza Alliance was the majority coalition.
This decision came after 14 MPs from the Azimio La Umoja Coalition Party defected to the ruling coalition, tipping the balance in Kenya Kwanza’s favour and allowing it to claim majority status.
However, a three-judge bench of the High Court later
found that Wetang’ula had violated the Constitution in making this
determination.
The court ruled that the Speaker had no justifiable basis for the reassignments and quashed the decision that had declared Kenya Kwanza as the majority party.
According to Wetang’ula’s ruling, Kenya Kwanza had 179 members in the National Assembly, while Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Coalition Party had 157.
However, official documents from the Registrar of Political Parties indicated that as of April 21, 2022, Azimio comprised 26 political parties, whereas Kenya Kwanza had only 15.
“The Speaker cannot fault the Registrar of Political Parties. She could not provide what she did not have. The Speaker ought to have presented the agreements that were allegedly submitted during the debate. Without the post-election coalition agreements, he had no basis for his decision,” the court ruled.
Delivering the unanimous judgment, Justices John Chigiti, Lawrence Mugambi, and Jairus Ngaah criticized the Speaker’s actions, emphasizing the need for impartiality and strict adherence to constitutional principles.
They underscored that the Speaker plays a crucial role in maintaining public trust in the parliamentary process.
“By assigning Kenya Kwanza the 14 members from other parties without justification and declaring it the majority party, the Speaker violated the Constitution,” the court ruled.
The judges further highlighted that the Speaker must act as a neutral arbiter, free from political influence.
They warned that public confidence in Parliament depends heavily on the Speaker’s actions and that any constitutional violations could severely undermine this trust.
