ANC MPs threaten to decamp NASA

From left: Lugari MP Ayub Savula, Nambale MP Sakwa Bunyasi, and ANC party leader Musalia Mudavadi. The party complained that it has not been given a fair deal in NASA's list of House leaders. [Benjamin Sakwa, Standard]

Cracks within the Opposition on the sharing of parliamentary leadership positions continued to widen yesterday.

A section of MPs from the Amani National Congress (ANC) have threatened to pull out of the National Super Alliance (NASA) if key positions were not reserved for the party.

The ANC legislators came short of announcing their intention to quit the alliance when they demanded that a contentious list of leadership positions in both the National Assembly and the Senate be withdrawn to give room for further consultations.

Demand list

The MPs demanded that the party be given the deputy minority leader’s position, saying the Musalia Mudavadi-led party had settled on Lugari MP Ayub Savula for the position. On the list sent to the National Assembly on Wednesday, NASA gave the position to Robert Mbui of Wiper Party.

The MPs also demanded one of the Parliamentary Service Commission slots reserved for the NASA coalition, saying after the party’s parliamentary group meeting, they had designated the position for Sabatia MP Alfred Agoi.

They also said NASA must give ANC the Public Accounts Committee chairman seat, which they want to go to Nambale MP Sakwa Bunyasi, while one of the positions in the House Business Committee, they said, should be reserved for Emuhaya MP Amboko Milemba.

“This was the decision taken after the parliamentary group meeting and this demand has to be met as soon as yesterday, otherwise we have already decided our next step of action if the demands are not met,” said Butere MP Tindi Mwale.

He said they had communicated their demands to NASA leader Raila Odinga, further adding that their party leader, Mudavadi, was in full support of their decision.

“We want Raila to come out of hiding and tell us why we are being marginalised within the NASA coalition. If it is a matter of party strength, we want to know why Ford Kenya, whose numbers are less, are getting the Minority Leader’s position in the Senate and the Deputy Minority Whip in the National Assembly,” he said.

On the floor of the House, Savula urged Speaker Justin Muturi to rule that the list given by NASA violated the Constitution and Standing Orders and revoke it.

Divorce case

But Majority Leader Aden Duale urged the Speaker not to allow the House to be used by NASA to settle its disputes, advising the ANC MPs to lodge their grievances with Mudavadi.

“If a marriage is not working, you divorce. This Parliament, and you Mr Speaker, should not allow yourself to be involved in a divorce case whose marriage you were not invited to,” said Duale.

Legislators from the Coast region have also protested at their exclusion from the House leadership positions, accusing their Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) colleagues from Nyanza of taking all the positions.