UDA defends House Majority status citing Party Registrar’s declaration » Capital News
NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 14 – The United Democratic Alliance (UDA) has defended its majority in the National Assembly saying compliance with the High Court ruling on the House majority is anchored on official information provided by the Registrar of Political Parties.
UDA Secretary-General Hassan Omar emphasized that the High Court, in its judgment on the leadership of the House, did not declare Azimio as the majority party in the National Assembly.
The UDA maintained that the UDA-led Kenya Kwanza coalition remains the majority party in the National Assembly.
“For the avoidance of doubt, and contrary to falsehoods circulating on various media platforms, the High Court never declared the Azimio Coalition as the majority party or Kenya Kwanza as the minority party,” Omar stated.
He made the remarks in a statement on Friday following Speaker Moses Wetangula decision reinstating Kenya Kwanza as the Majority Party.
“Based on the High Court’s decision, the Kenya Kwanza Coalition, with a total of 165 members, is lawfully the Majority Coalition, while the Azimio Coalition, with 154 members, is the Minority Party within the meaning of Article 108 of the Constitution,” he added.
Omar further noted that publicly available information from the Registrar of Political Parties confirms that as of February 11, 2025, Kenya Kwanza has 165 members, while Azimio has 154.
“UDA remains committed to the essential values of democracy, social justice, and the rule of law,” he added.
In its February 7 ruling, the High Court, said Speaker Wetangula erred in declaring Kenya Kwanza the majority following post-election defections.
The bench found Wetangula’s declaration on October 6, 2022, inconsistent with the law. While his decision was described as “Solomonic,” it was ultimately deemed unconstitutional.
Post-election defections
Wetangula had ruled that Kenya Kwanza had 179 members against Azimio’s 157.
However, the court noted that 14 members from the opposition and independent candidates joined Kenya Kwanza through a post-election coalition agreement, making Azimio the majority.
“By assigning Kenya Kwanza the 14 members of the parties without any justification and declaring Kenya Kwanza as the Majority Party, it follows that the Speaker violated the Constitution,” the ruling stated.
The judges emphasized that the Speaker’s role must be free from political influence, warning that any action perceived as politically motivated could erode public confidence in Parliament.
“The Speaker cannot fault the Registrar of Political Parties for failing to provide documents that did not exist. Without post-election coalition agreements, there was no basis for his ruling,” the court observed.
Despite this, in a fresh declaration on February 12, Wetangula upheld the Kenya Kwanza Alliance as the majority coalition in the National Assembly.
Parties Registrar records
In his ruling on the implications of the court’s decision on House proceedings, the Speaker cited post-election agreements filed with the Registrar of Political Parties as a key factor in determining majority status.
He referenced coalition agreements from the Registrar, which indicated that 14 MPs from five political parties had exited Azimio La Umoja, thereby denying the opposition coalition the majority status it sought.
“As a result, the Kenya Kwanza Coalition is the Majority Party, and the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Coalition Party is the Minority Party in the House,” Wetang’ula ruled.
This led the opposition coalition to threaten to impeach Wetangula over alleged impartiality in his ruling, which contradicted the High Court decision.
Minority Leader Junet Mohammed criticized Wetangula’s handling of the matter, accusing him of inconsistencies regarding the status of the 14 MPs who defected from Azimio after signing post-election agreements with Kenya Kwanza.
“We have always maintained that Jubilee is still part of Azimio, yet today he says the party is in Azimio. This ruling is full of contradictions and will be overturned in court, just like the previous one. Parliament is not immune to constitutional interpretation by the courts—it is not a court of appeal,” he added.
The opposition also took issue with Deputy Speaker Gladys Boss for writing to the Registrar of Political Parties to seek details on post-election agreements, questioning her motives.
“It’s going to be messy and noisy, and there will be casualties, I can promise you. The way Parliament is being handled is alarming. While we see broad-based governance in the Executive, Parliament is becoming one-sided,” Junet warned.