Milimani High Court on Friday, February 7, 2025, declared the Azimio coalition as the majority party in the National Assembly.

The judgement was delivered by a three-judge bench stating that Kenya Kwanza is not the majority party in the National Assembly.

Justices John Chigiti, Lawrence Mugambi, and Jairus Ngaah ruled on the matter.

According to the ruling the majority party coalition parties was determined by Kenyans during the August 2022 general elections.

“It is hereby declared that the question as to which party or coalition parties is the majority of the National Assembly of the 13th Parliament was determined by the sovereign will of the Kenyan voters during the August 9, 2022, general elections,” part of the ruling read.

Further, the bench also declared that the National Assembly speaker Moses Wetangula violated the Constitution in making the controversial determination on which party or coalition parties was the majority at the Assembly.

On October 6, 2022, the speaker made a decision of assigning 14 members from various parties to Kenya Kwanza, in efforts to favour Kenya Kwanza coalition thus enabling it to claim majority status.

“It is therefore declared that the Honourable speaker determined as contains in his communication to the chair made on October 6, 2022, on the majority and minority in the National Assembly violated the constitution,” part of the ruling read.

Wetangula, declared that Kenya Kwanza had 179 members in the House against Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition party’s with 157.

However, according to the documents from the Registrar of Political Parties as at April 21, 2021, Azimio coalition party had 26 political parties while Kenya Kwanza had 15.

The court found that the Speaker had no justifiable cornerstone to re assign other more members to Kenya Kwanza on October 6, 2022, thus declaring it the majority party in the house.

“The speaker can’t fault the registrar of political parties. She could not provide what she did not have.The speaker ought to have exhibited the agreement which were alleged to have been presented during the debate without the post-election coalition agreements he had not basis to this regard,” part of the ruling read.

In the landmark ruling the bench also stated that the speaker of the assembly should be neutral, independent and far from succumbing to political pressures.

The court ruled that Wetangula ceased to be the party leader of Ford Kenya the moment he became the Speaker of the National Assembly adding that him being a party leader undermines his roles in the Assembly.

Meanwhile,the court declined conservatory orders from Kenya Kwanza lawyers who were seeking a stay of the judgement for 45 days stating that Wetangula should have followed the law.

The case was filed in 2023 by 12 individuals who identified themselves as registered voters.

They contended that 171 members of the National Assembly were elected on the tickets of political parties that formed the Azimio coalition while 165 members of the National Assembly were elected on Kenya Kwanza coalition parties’ tickets.

They stated in their court documents that going by the results, the Azimio coalition became the majority party in the National Assembly after the August 9, 2022 General Elections. Azimio coalition could not be determined by the Speaker of the National Assembly.

He also argued that “in so far as the petition seeks to determine a dispute between political parties and coalitions, the court lacks the power to entertain the dispute” the Reason being that the petitioners had not exhausted all the available dispute resolution mechanisms.

The petitioners were also aggrieved that although Moses Wetangula was elected the Speaker of the National Assembly, he held and still holds the position of the leader of Ford-Kenya party; that he is a member of the Kenya Kwanza Forum of Party leaders; and, that he is an ex officio member of the coalition parliamentary group of Kenya Kwanza.