Speaker seat: Will it be Wetang’ula or Kalonzo?

The National Assembly and the Senate will tomorrow become theatres of political contests when President-elect William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza Alliance will face off with the Opposition Azimio-One Kenya coalition in the battle to elect Speakers for both Houses.

The elections — the second order of business once the Houses open for the 13th session — are likely to trigger acrimonious exchanges on the floors of the respective Houses given the razor-thin differences in the numbers of the two coalitions.

The battle comes less than a week after Monday’s Supreme Court ruling in which the seven judges upheld the declaration of Ruto as President-elect. The judges also threw out the petition filed by Azimio’s Raila Odinga, who finished second in the race.

Within hours of the ruling, President Uhuru Kenyatta published two Kenya Gazette notices convening the two Houses, which will have only three businesses tomorrow; the swearing-in of the legislators, the election of the respective Speakers and the election of Deputy Speakers.

By yesterday, 19 individuals had applied for the position of the Speaker of the National Assembly while another 17 had expressed interest in the Senate position.

Kenya Kwanza is fronting Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang’ula for National Assembly Speaker while Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka will be the Azimio candidate.

Whoever wins the seat will become the third most powerful man in the Executive after the President and Deputy President.

In the Senate, Kenya Kwanza made last minute changes by nominating former Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar Hassan to replace former Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi as its preferred candidate.

At the weekend, while on a tour of Bungoma, Ruto indicated that Kenya Kwanza would reserve the seat for a candidate from the Coast to foster regional balance. Omar lost last week in the race to succeed Hassan Joho as Mombasa governor after he was defeated by Azimio’s Abdulswamad Sharrif Nassir.

A former Speaker of the National Assembly, Kenneth Marende, has been picked as the Azimio nominee for Senate Speaker.

Farah Maalim of Wiper, an Azimio affiliate, has applied for the position of Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly. He will, among others, face of with Gladys Shollei, the Kenya Kwanza candidate.

Bloc vote

Going by the numbers in Parliament, it will be a rough road for the Azimio side considering that their Kenya Kwanza counterparts command a respectable lead after winning over 10 independent candidates and wooing other legislators from the Azimio coalition, including seven from UDM.

Kenya Kwanza has on its side 163 members and expects to be buoyed by the support of the ten Independents and another six MPs from smaller parties.

“It will be a walkover. Our leadership led by President-elect William Ruto plans to bring us together ahead of the Thursday vote, the idea is to vote as a bloc,” a member who sought anonymity said ahead of today’s Kenya Kwanza parliamentary group meeting.

Under the Azimio coalition agreement, Wiper was to produce a candidate to run for National Assembly’s Deputy Speaker slot, while the Senate Speaker candidate was come from the Coast or the pastoralist community.

Azimio is also seeking to exploit a constitutional provision that requires Wetang’ula to first resign as a senator before formally applying to run for the National Assembly seat. Wetang’ula is the senator-elect for Bungoma and Ford Kenya leader.

The provision has put him in a precarious position since he would be making a political gamble by resigning before seeking the Speakership.

A notice by acting National Assembly Clerk Serah Kioko said those seeking to take part in the election will have to return their applications at least 48 hours to the election. “Please, also note that candidates shall be required to submit a letter from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission evidencing the fact that the candidate is qualified to be elected as a Member of Parliament under Article 99 of the Constitution and that the candidate is not such a member, in the case of the position of the Speaker,” states the notice.

Given the notice, Wetang’ula will have a tough time deciding how to resolve his dilemma especially because the law is silent on who in the absence of the substantive Speaker can receive a resignation letter from an MP seeking to relinquish their seat.

The acting Clerk yesterday said that her office was yet to decide on the matter and will only do so after perusing the coalition’s agreements after which it will take a position. “We are perusing the coalition agreements before deciding,” Kioko said.

Legally, Azimio has a slim majority of 167 against 158 MPs over Kenya Kwanza.

Politically, however, Kenya Kwanza has more numbers after Ruto wooed some Azimio members, Independents and the smaller parties.

On nominated members, the two sides will share the spoils with the President-elect’s party, United Democratic Alliance (UDA), taking up six out of the 12 nomination slots, while ODM will have four, Jubilee and Wiper one.

This means six each for Kenya Kwanza and Azimio, placing the total numbers at 173 for Azimio and 164 for Kenya Kwanza.

It will be interesting to see who between Wetang’ula and Kalonzo will carry the day. 

Kalonzo was overlooked when Raila settled on Martha Karua as his choice of running mate. 

Wanted back

He had been offered the position of Prime Cabinet Secretary had Azimio won the presidency. Although this did not happen, he stands to benefit because his party had been given a free hand to decide who will run for the Speaker’s seat.

In the Senate, similarly, Marende, whose hand has been tried and tested as National Assembly Speaker, will face off with a new-comer Hassan Omar Hassan.

Marende was confident of victory, saying he would carry the day when the third Senate under the 2010 Constitution holds its first sitting. “Members of Parliament and generally the legislative community wants me back,” he told journalists shortly after picking his nomination papers.

Others in the race to succeed Kenneth Lusaka — now Bungoma Governor — are ex-nominated Senator Isaac Mwaura and political activist George Bush.

In the deputy speaker race, Ruto’s side has fronted Meru Senator-elect Kathuri Murungi and his Kiambu counterpart, Paul Karungo wa Thang’wa. The candidature of Nandi Senator-elect Samson Cherargei was yet to be confirmed.

Azimio has settled on Nyamira Senator-elect Okong’o O’mogeni as its sole candidate for the Deputy Speaker’s slot.