The High Court in Nairobi has declared that the Kenya Kwanza coalition headed by President William Ruto is not the majority party in the National Assembly.
A three-judge bench comprising Justices John Chigiti, Lawrence Mugambi and Jairus Ngaah ruled that the National Assembly Speaker, Moses Wetang’ula, violated the constitution while making the determination.
In his ruling on October 6, 2022, Wetang’ula said Kenya Kwanza had 179 members in the National Assembly, while the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition Party led by Raila Odinga had 157.
The speaker arrived at the 179 after 14 members from various parties, including the Jubilee Party, which is part of Azimio, were reassigned to Kenya Kwanza, enabling the Ruto-led faction to claim the majority status.
“By assigning Kenya Kwanza the 14 members from other parties without justification and declaring it the majority party, Speaker Wetang'ula violated the Constitution,” the court ruled.Official documents from the Registrar of Political Parties indicate that as of April 21, 2022, Azimio comprised 26 political parties, whereas Kenya Kwanza had 15.
The judges argued that Wetang’ula cannot fault the Registrar of Political Parties.
