National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula has rejected calls to step down in favor of Deputy Speaker Gladys Boss Shollei, despite a recent court ruling questioning his neutrality as an arbiter.
The High Court ruled that the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Alliance coalition is the Majority Party in the National Assembly.
It also stated that Wetangula should have resigned as leader of the Ford Kenya party when he assumed the position of Speaker.
Following the ruling, Minority Whip Millie Odhiambo called on Wetangula to resign, referring to a decision made by a three-judge bench last Friday that overturned his earlier declaration of the Kenya Kwanza Alliance as the majority coalition in Parliament.
However, Wetangula dismissed these demands, asserting that there was no formal motion in the House to require his resignation.
He also insisted that the court ruling did not question his conduct.
“I have read the judgment carefully, and nowhere does it cast aspersions on the Speaker. As Speaker, I do not engage in debate. Please, do not go down that route,” Wetangula said.
He further emphasized that the National Assembly, like Parliament, is an independent arm of government, and no external body has the authority to dictate its actions.
“The final ruling will be mine alone. Neither the court nor any other organization can make decisions on behalf of this House. We function as a quasi-judicial body,” he remarked.
Wetangula pointed out that the court ruling did not address the question of who holds the majority and who the minority is in Parliament.
The ruling by the three-judge bench—Justices John Chigiti, Lawrence Mugambi, and Jairus Ngaah—argued that Wetangula had violated the Constitution by declaring Kenya Kwanza the Majority Party in his October 6, 2022 ruling on the floor of the House.
Wetangula declared Kenya Kwanza as having 179 members in the House, compared to Azimio La Umoja One Kenya coalition’s 157 members.
However, after a post-coalition agreement, the Azimio coalition emerged as the majority following the defection of 14 members from the opposition and independent candidates.
