National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang'ula.
National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang'ula has been granted temporary relief by the court in his legal battle with rights activists over his dual role of Ford Kenya party leader and National Assembly Speaker.
This is after the High Court suspended the hearing of the case pending determination of a related dispute at the Court of the Appeal.
The legal dispute also concerns the implementation of a court verdict that the Opposition outfit, Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya Coalition, was the Majority Party in the National Assembly with 171 MPs against Kenya Kwanza Coalition's 165 MPs.
The activists filed a contempt of court application seeking Mr Wetangula's punishment over alleged defiance of the court verdict. He retained Azimio as the Minority Party and Kenya Kwanza Coalition as the Majority.
Mr Wetang'ula declared the ruling Kenya Kwanza Coalition the Majority Party in Parliament with 165 MPs and Azimio the Minority with 154 members.
The case was scheduled for hearing directions on Friday but a three-judge bench comprising Justices Jairus Ngaah, John Chigiti and Lawrence Mugambi halted the proceedings, citing a pending related dispute at the Court of Appeal.
The activists had also applied for amendment of the court verdict issued on February 7, 2025, to reflect that Mr Wetang'ula cannot continue serving as Speaker so long as he remains Ford Kenya party leader.
The judges, however, noted that Mr Wetang’ula together with other parties in the legal dispute had appealed against the High Court judgment, which quashed his decision to designate Kenya Kwanza Coalition as the Majority Party.
Mr Wetang'ula and the other appellants have also filed an application for suspension of the implementation of the judgment and the ruling is scheduled for March 21, 2025.
"Considering the matter pending before the Court of Appeal, this court cannot deal with the contempt application until the appellate court rules on the stay application, which is slated for March 21, 2025," Justice Ngaah said.
The judges directed that the case be mentioned on April 4, 2025, to confirm the outcome of Mr Wetangula's application for a stay of the judgment.
The activists returned to court alleging contempt on the part of Mr Wetang'ula following his ruling dated February 12, 2025, designating Azimio as Minority Party and Kenya Kwanza as the Majority.
National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula in a communication to the House, ruled Kenya Kwanza the majority side in the National Assembly with 165 MPs and Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition the minority with 154 MPs.
They believe the ruling is null and unlawful based on the High Court's finding that the issue on which Coalition had majority members in Parliament was settled by voters in the results of the August 2022 General Election and gazetted by IEBC, where Azimio had 171 MPs against Kenya Kwanza's 165.
The activists also believe Mr Wetangula's ruling is null based on questions surrounding the veracity of his simultaneous positions of Speaker and Ford Kenya party leader.
"This court be pleased to find and hold that the Parliamentary proceedings in the National Assembly presided over by Mr Wetang'ula as long as he remains the leader of Ford Kenya party and a principal in Kenya Kwanza Coalition are deemed as unlawful, null and void from the beginning," said the activists' lawyer Kibe Mungai.
The High Court had ruled that the dual role of Mr Wetang'ula was unlawful and unconstitutional and that he had no capacity to perform any other functions as a leader of a political party or a political organ as long as he was the Speaker of the National Assembly.
According to the activists, the decision of the Speaker to retain Kenya Kwanza Coalition as the Majority Party amounts to gross violation of the judgment issued by a three-judge bench.
"The Speaker of the National Assembly has once again usurped and arrogated to himself the Constitutional power to determine the questions as to the Majority and Minority parties in the National Assembly despite the express findings and orders of this court that the said question was determined by the Kenyan people exercising their sovereign power during the General Election held on August 9, 2022," said lawyer Kibe.
He argued that the High Court having ruled that Mr Wetang'ula cannot hold simultaneous positions, the proceedings of the National Assembly are likely to be tainted and vitiated by illegality.
According to the lawyer, resulting from the court verdict the Speaker was supposed to recognize the Azimio Coalition as the Majority based on the results of the 2022 General Election.
He was not supposed to request the Registrar of Political Parties for evidence on which coalition has the majority members, the lawyer said.
"In view of the court's finding in the judgment, the Speaker was supposed to implement the said judgment by ensuring that Azimio Coalition took it's Majority Party positions following the quashing of earlier ruling dated October 6, 2022, which unlawfully stripped Azimio the Majority status," said Mr Kibe.
According to lawyer Kibe, the decision of the Speaker to request for information from the Registrar of Political Parties and using the same to retain Kenya Kwanza majority party amounts to contempt of the court judgment.
"The only effective remedy for the unlawful ruling of the Speaker delivered on February 12, 2025 ,is to quash or set it aside," argued lawyer Kibe.
They also want the High Court to amend two of it's final orders in the judgment and declare that Mr Wetang'ula cannot continue to serve as Speaker of the National Assembly unless and until he resigns as the political leader of the Ford Kenya party and as a leader in the Kenya Kwanza Coalition.
Following the judgment, the Speaker together with the National Assembly, UDA MPs in the House led by Majority leader Kimani Ichung'wa, Kenya Kwanza Alliance, the UDA party and Maendeleo Chap Chap party filed separate appeals at the Court of Appeal.
