Jubilee Secretary General Jeremiah Kioni has come out to slam Speaker Moses Wetang’ula’s decision to declare Kenya Kwanza as the majority party in the National Assembly, saying the move was nothing but a blatant showcase of the sheer incompetence within the country’s speakership.

Taking to his X account on Wednesday, February 12, 2025, Kioni voiced his disappointment, stating that what had transpired was a clear testament to the fact that the leadership in the National Assembly had utterly failed in its mandate.

According to him, the majority and minority in Parliament are not decided through underhanded dealings but are determined by the electorate at the ballot, and that what played out today when the Speaker ruled in favour of Kenya Kwanza was nothing more than political scheming.

“We are witnessing a blatant failure of leadership in the House, with an incompetent Speakership that has completely disregarded the rule of law. The courts were unequivocal. Majority and minority are determined by the people at the ballot, not through political maneuvering.”

The former National Assembly membe did not hold back, making it clear that in this particular matter, the court was right and that any attempt by the Speaker to override its ruling was nothing short of an attack on democracy.

He further insisted that such actions were a direct betrayal of the people’s will.

“Any attempt to subvert this is nothing less than an assault on democracy and a direct betrayal of the will of the people.”

Court rules

Kioni was speaking in reference to Wednesday February 12, 2025, ruling by National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula, which declared that President William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza party held the majority in the National Assembly, with 165 members compared to Azimio la Umoja’s 154.

While delivering the ruling, Wetangula defended himself, asserting that the court had not explicitly determined which coalition constituted the majority or minority.

“Arising from the foregoing, the Kenya Kwanza is the majority and the Azimio is the minority. The leadership of the House remains unchanged,” the Speaker declared.

However, on Friday, February 7, 2025, a three-judge bench of the High Court ruled that Kenya Kwanza was not the majority party in the National Assembly, pointing out that it only had 15 political parties compared to Azimio’s 26.

During the case, the court determined that what had actually happened was that, back in 2022, the Speaker had taken 14 members from other parties and reassigned them to UDA, giving it the artificial numbers to claim majority status.

That was when the court ruled that the Speaker had no authority to keep declaring Kenya Kwanza as the Majority, stating that what he had done back then was a blatant violation of the Constitution.

“By assigning Kenya Kwanza the 14 members from other parties without justification and declaring it the majority party, the Speaker violated the Constitution.”

“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.