Former ruling party Jubilee Party (JP) members allied to President William Ruto have questioned about the legality of Embakasi West Member of Parliament (MP) Mark Mwenje as the Deputy Minority Whip.
In a statement on Thursday, the faction claimed that Mwenje belongs to the party that has dissociated itself from the Azimio coalition.
“We will move to challenge the legality of the new Deputy Whip of the Azimio Coalition as he belongs to a Party that has dissociated itself from the Azimio Coalition. The dance has therefore just started,” the statement read.
This follows the decision by the Speaker of the National Assembly Moses Wetang’ula to approve the removal of Nominated MP Sabina Chege as Deputy Minority Whip.
“In this regard, Mark Mwenje replaces nominated MP Sabina Chege as the Deputy Minority Whip,” Wetang’ula announced.
“To give effect the provisions of article 36 of the Constitution on freedom of association and article 38 of the Constitution on the political right which confer upon each member of the House the right to determine which entity they wish to be associated with.”
The East Africa Legislative Assembly (EALA) MP Kanini Kega’s Jubilee Party Secretary General faction now wants the Jubilee Members allied with former President Uhuru Kenyatta to respect Wetang’ula’s decision to recognise Jubilee as a parliamentary Party.
The faction said that the speakers’s ruling was well grounded on sound principles of Parliamentary Standing Orders, the Constitution and all the Laws of the Land.
“As Jubilee Party, we are happy and satisfied with the ruling and more so since common sense and legality have prevailed so much so that our party stands ringfenced to resist the bullying and underhand tactics of Azimio, especially the ODM wing,” the statement read.
“We shall now chart our future within the bicameral setup of the 13th Parliament with a right to associate with any coalition of the willing. Our adversaries should stop crying over spilt milk, count their losses and move on.”
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