The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) has denied claims it has clashed with President Uhuru Kenyatta’s MPs over the formation of parliamentary committees.
ODM Chairman John Mbadi denied reports that Uhuru and opposition leader Raila Odinga’s MPs differed during a Thursday meeting.
Speaking at Kiyabuya trading centre in his Suba South Constituency, Mbadi said the disagreement was blown out of proportion. He said the disagreement occurred only between him and National Assembly Majority Leader Amos Kimunya.
“It is not factual for the media to report that there is a disagreement between Raila’s and Uhuru’s MPs. There was a slight disagreement but it was between Kimunya and I,” said the National Assembly minority leader. He said he was not satisfied with composition of two committees.
Mbadi said some Jubilee MPs who had been incorporated into the committees would jeopardise implementation of the BBI report.
He said the committees’ members still consisted of MPs allied to Deputy President William Ruto and he feared they might jeopardise the BBI agenda.
Mbadi said the MPs allied to Ruto had opposed the BBI agenda, hence their membership in such committees would derail the report’s implementation.
“I told Kimunya that I didn’t want to see names of MPs like Uasin Gishu Woman Rep Gladys Shollei, Baringo North MP William Cheptumo and others in the committees. He had to remove them because they opposed the BBI,” he said.
The legislator said they held further consultations until Kimunya gave in to his demands.
“Today, Kimunya has withdrawn and we are going to fine tune the committees’ membership, including those of finance and education, next week,” Mbadi said.
Mbadi said his objective is to ensure the committees are composed of MPs who can work as a team to push the BBI agenda.
The Justice and Legal Affairs Committee is crucial, especially when the BBI report makes it to Parliament, where key recommendations are expected to be passed. The ODM chairman said they were running the party affairs well in the absence of Raila who is receiving treatment in the United Arab Emirates.
“I also have two able deputy party leaders, Wycliffe Oparanya and Hassan Joho with whom we are running the party affairs effectively. We are up to the task and when Raila comes back, we will hand over to him,” Mbadi said.
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