Speaker saves Sabina from losing House Minority seat
By Anthony.Mwangi, May 5, 2023Speaker of the National Assembly Moses Wetang’ula yesterday declined to order the removal of nominated MP Sabina Chege as the National Assembly Minority Whip citing wrong wording of the letter to him by the Minority side.
Wetang’ula also refused to declare the Jubilee a parliamentary party and instead gave its leadership 30 days to put its house in order before coming back with a similar request.
The Minority party was given 30 days to rework its request to remove Chege from the position.
The matter meanwhile brought to the fore divisions within the Minority Party after nominated MP John Mbadi broke ranks with his colleagues to applaud the Speaker’s ruling.
“This is a very informed ruling, it has given the minority party more time to reorganize,” Mbadi said in response to the ruling which the minority leader Opiyo Wandayi had opposed prompting a walk out by members.
The Speaker said that the communication received from the Minority with regard to the replacement of Chege as the Deputy Minority Whip was incomplete and, therefore, did not comply with the requirements of Standing Order 20A of the National Assembly.
Standing Orders
“In the current scenario, the Minority party has conveyed its decision seeking to remove one of its leaders without simultaneously offering a substitution. The letter only partially meets the express requirements of the Standing Orders,” ruled the Speaker.
He added: “I hereby grant the Minority Party a period of thirty (30) days from today within which to convey the appropriate communication on the replacement of its Deputy Minority Whip, if it so wishes.”
Wandayi had written to the Speaker communicating the decision by the Azimio la Umoja One-Kenya Coalition party to remove Chege as their minority deputy whip, a decision that was opposed by Jubilee MPs supported by the majority.
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