Members of Parliament affiliated to Deputy President William Ruto’s Tanga Tanga faction of Jubilee party have now taken their fight to Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party leader Raila Odinga’s doorstep, days after losing the fight to President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The head of state has been carrying out a purge in the ruling party that saw tanga tanga affiliated members lose plum positions both in the senate and in the National Assembly.
This week, the MPs adopted changes in the National Assembly leadership, which saw Ruto allies kicked out of powerful house committees, with some like Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichungwah being demoted from lucrative Budget committee to catering.
After losing the fight to reclaim their positions in parliament, Ruto allies have now claimed that the ODM party is now running the government and must relinquish its Minority party positions in Parliament.
According to The Standard, Ruto’s camp now wants the plum positions that are being held by ODM, taken up by MPs in Musalia Mudavadi’s Amani National Congress (ANC) who would play the opposition role in both the National Assembly and the Senate.
Soy MP Caleb Kositany and his Aldai counterpart Cornelly Serem on Thursday July 16, 2020 announced plans to write to National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi to make a ruling on whether ODM should continue holding the positions after “joining the government and taking up Majority side slots.”
The two MPs declared that they were ready to move to the High Court to seek an interpretation of the current setup of Parliament and whether ODM should continue acting as the opposition.
Kositany argues that ODM is running the government and Kenyans cannot expect them to oversight the excesses of the same government.
Similar views were expressed by Serem, who said they are ready to take up the battle to kick out ODM MPs from Minority leadership positions as well as oversight committees held by the opposition.
