Where were DP Ruto’s lieutenants in Parliament during Azimio Bill Debate?
Umpteenth times, Deputy President William Ruto has been claiming that he has a great command in Parliament thanks to the huge numbers of Members of Parliament allied to his UDA party.
During the debate of the controversial Political Parties (Amendments) Bill, 2021, however, the numbers that the DP claims to enjoy in the House were conspicuously missing. This is after the MPs were bulldozed by their colleagues allied to President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga.
During the Debate, 115 MPs allied to President Uhuru and Raila voted to support the bill against 68 votes from Ruto's allied MPs who voted against the Bill. This paved way for the Bill to proceed to the final stage.
The proposed law which is seeking to force political parties to enter into coalitions six months before the General Elections has greatly been opposed by Ruto's men.
According to them, the Bill is an attempt by the government to force the One Kenya Alliance (OKA) principals to enter into a coalition with the Raila-led Azimio la Umoja coalition.
During the heated debate, Minority Leader John Mbadi challenged the Tanga Tanga brigade to prove the huge numbers they have been vaunting about.
“We have been told about 150 members supporting a particular cause, you can see when we come to the floor of this House the members are hardly 20 and that is why they are making noise,” Mbadi said.
“My colleagues on the other side who have been boasting of numbers in the streets, today we want to see where are those numbers.”
Suna East MP Junet Mohamed on his side challenged Ruto's men to come out and block the bill if they have the numbers as they claimed.
“If you have numbers don’t shout outside there, bring your numbers here on the floor of the House. We are going to win this hands down,” Junet said.
The defeat by the handshake team comes after the Tanga Tanga MP failed to block the proposal on coalition building during the morning session drama. This is after Deputy Speaker Moses Cheboi ruled against them.
Ruto's men have now vowed to move to court to challenge the bill after the defeat in the Parliament.
DP Ruto has consistently boasted of having sufficient troops in both Houses, 146 MPs, a claim that was punctured for a second time yesterday.
In May this year, Ruto’s numbers were also demystified after MPs voted overwhelmingly to pass the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) Bill in both Houses.
A total of 235 MPs voted in favour of the amendment against 83, while 52 senators voted in support of 12 who rejected it.
The debate degenerated into a shouting match pitting pro-handshake and Tangatanga legislators, spilling into the lounge after the House adjourned.
Previously, Ruto's men have claimed that they command up to 140 MPs in the August House.
But the handshake team now claims that they have proven them wrong and they are still going to push harder to command three-quarters of the House.
"This was a rehearsal. We will mobilise over 200 members the next time we have this vote. We had 115 and they had 68. This shows the purported numbers are for eating at Karen,” Junet said.
While Murang'a Woman Representative Sabina Chege noted that the defeat in the Bill has proven to Kenyans that the Tanga Tanga brigade has been lying of having the number in Parliament.
She further claimed that the Kieleweke side will once again beat their Tanga Tanga counterparts in the next round of the debate.
