Azimio attempt to withdraw its representation from House Business Committee fails
National Assembly Speaker Moses Wentang'ula.
The Azimio coalition was left with an egg on its face after National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula neutered its attempts to withdraw its members from the House Business Committee (HBC).
The move by the Leader of Minority Junet Mohamed (Suna East) was a protest note after Speaker Wetang’ula had ruled that President William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza is the majority coalition in the House with 165 MPs against Mr Odinga’s Azimio 154.
However, Mr Junet’s timing was the technicality that defeated his attempt as he prosecuted the matter just after a question on the motion to constitute HBC had been proposed by the Speaker.
“Under instructions from our Parliamentary Group, before you put the question, I have been asked to convey to you on the floor of the House that we have withdrawn our Members from the House Business Committee,” said Mr Junet without indicating when the PG was held.
He did not also present an official letter from Azimio conveying the decision of the PG and an attachment of the minutes of the PG. HBC, chaired by the Speaker, is critical in setting the calendar of the House that prioritises the business to be transacted in the House daily.
Mr Mohamed went on; “it will be a nullity for the House to pass the membership from our side. You may now consider me as the leader of the majority or minority, whichever way you can take.”
However, Speaker Wetang’ula stopped Mr Mohamed in his tracks, lecturing him on the provisions of the Standing Orders.
“No member listed on this motion has been withdrawn because the withdrawal of any member on a motion like this can only be through an amendment to the motion,” said Speaker Wetang’ula noting that “question has already been proposed.”
The Speaker went on to educate Mr Mohamed on the provisions of Standing Order 58 of the House Standing Orders.
The Standing Order states; “After the Question has been proposed on a Motion, the Motion shall be deemed to be in the possession of the House, and such Motion shall not be withdrawn without the leave of the House”.
Press conference
Having been nailed, Mr Mohamed, with about 35 MPs in tow, stormed out of the debating chamber to address a hurriedly convened press conference where he affirmed Azimio’s determination to de-whip its members from HBC.
“We will dewhip our members from HBC,” Mr Mohamed spoke at the press conference. But almost a week down the line, Mr Mohamed is yet to make good his threat to dewhip Azimio membership in the HBC.
By virtue of their positions, the Leader of Majority and his minority colleague, majority and minority whips sit in the HBC that also draws membership of the nine other MPs.
Speaker Wetang’ula told Mr Junet that it would be hypocritical of him to attempt to sabotage the business of the House through a frivolous point of Order that should have invited sanctions against him yet it is he who had written to the Speaker proposing the names on the HBC.
“I received a letter from Junet Mohamed on February 10, 2025, addressed to the Clerk of the National Assembly,” the Speaker said adding; “it said; the Minority Party nominates the following Members to the House Business Committee in accordance with the Standing Orders.”
The Azimio nominees to the HBC included MPs Robert Mbui (Kathiani), Francis Kajwang’ (Ruaraka), Adan Keynan (Eldas) and Sarah Korere (Laikipia North). The letter was signed off as
“Yours sincerely, Hon Junet Mohamed, EGH, MP, Suna East Constituency, Leader of the Minority Party in the National Assembly.”
The Speaker had also received a similar letter from Kenya Kwanza’s leader of majority Kimani Ichung’wah (Kikuyu) on February 3, 2025, nominating its nominees to the HBC.
They included MPs Samuel Chepkong’a (Ainabkoi), Omboko Milemba (Emuhaya), Faith Gitau (Nyandarua County Woman MP), Joshua Mwalyo (Masinga) and Umul Ker Kassim Sheikh (Mandera County Woman MP).
The Speaker noted that once a motion is moved, “either you can move an amendment seeking the necessary support from the House that shall be put to a vote or you keep your cool.”
“You do not change the content of a motion by picketing on the floor of the House and making completely unparliamentary and unhelpful statements,” the Speaker warned Mr Junet Mohamed.
“As it is now, the motion we will vote to is properly in the House. It fully carries the names of both sides of the House- the majority and the minority.”
Mr Ichung’wah noted that the HBC is “properly and duly constituted, with or without the participation of the four members of the Azimio Coalition, and it will sit.”