Showdown looms over Minority Leader position

 

Wiper Patriotic Front (WPF) Party Leader, Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka. [Jenipher Wachie, Standard]

A showdown pitting the larger Azimio Coalition and the fractured Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party is now looming in the National Assembly over who occupies the position of the Leader of the Minority.

On Monday, Azimio de-whipped Suna East MP Junet Mohammed from the position of the leader of the Azimio Coalition Parliamentary Group in the National Assembly, replacing him with Suba South MP Caroli Omondi.

The move, the latest on a political chessboard pitting Azimio leader and former President Uhuru Kenyatta and President William Ruto, now sets the stage for an intensified scramble for the Leader of Minority position in the House.

While Junet still occupies the position of the Leader of the Minority party, the decision by the Uhuru-backed Azimio Coalition communicated intent to seize control of the seat from ODM, whose members have explicitly expressed intent to work with President William Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA).

Granted, the procedure to ensure the removal of Junet as the Minority Leader, which commences with the holding of an Azimio Parliamentary Group meeting and ends with the resolutions of the same being tabled on the floor of the House, was not followed, meaning that he continues to hold the post but will no longer wear the hat of the Azimio Coalition Parliamentary Group leader.

Junet was installed as the Leader of the Minority on July 31, 2024, after the Central Management Committee of the ODM party settled on his candidature.

Suba North Millie Odhiambo was also nominated for the role of Minority Whip, MP Caleb Amisi for the role of Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, and Funyula MP Wilberforce Oundo to take up the seat of Vice Chair. The decision was later endorsed during an Azimio Parliamentary Group meeting.

The decision to replace Junet, nonetheless, with firebrand Omondi is, however, telling as he (Omondi) represents a faction within the ODM party that has declined to go to bed with President William Ruto’s UDA and opposed a planned pre-2027 election pact between UDA and ODM.

Under the leadership of Azimio Coalition leader Kalonzo Musyoka, Omondi also occupies the position of the Azimio Secretary-General — a position also formerly held by Junet.

This, pundits argue, points to sustained effort by Azimio proponents to rid the House of Junet’s influence as he is considered to be at the beck and call of President Ruto and working against the ideals of the Coalition.

This was also evidenced by the Azimio Coalition statement on Monday.

“The Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition party today held a joint meeting of the Coalition Council and the National Coalition Executive Council and resolved that the following persons have, by virtue of their appointment to public office and having joined competing political coalitions, ceased to be members of the Azimio Coalition Council and the Azimio National Coalition Executive Council,” read the statement by Kalonzo in part.

“The meeting resolved to terminate with immediate effect the appointment of Junet Mohammed as leader of the Azimio Coalition Parliamentary Group and appointed Caroli Omondi to the post with immediate effect,” it added. Notably, others targeted in the Azimio Coalition purge include Mining and Blue Economy Cabinet Secretary Hassan Joho, Nominated MP Sabina Chege, and Abdi Noor Farah, who were removed from its council.

The Coalition also removed Co-operatives and Micro Small Enterprises Cabinet Secretary Wycliffe Oparanya, Eldas MP Adan Keynan, Pokot South MP David Pkosing, Likoni MP Mishi Mboko, from its National Executive Council.

Energy Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi, Garissa Senator Abdul Haji, EAC Principal Secretary Caroline Karugu, Isabella Githinji, Solomon Kuria, and Junet were also removed from the National Executive Council.

At the same time, the ODM party has remained bullish and dismissed previous changes made by Azimio- a precedent likely to be repeated, setting the stage for a tussle for the leadership of the minority at the National Assembly.

Last month, ODM dismissed changes to the Azimio Coalition leadership, terming them as null and void for lacking the inclusion of all constituent Azimio parties.

The changes effected by Azimio Council Chairman, retired President Uhuru Kenyatta, saw Kalonzo installed as the Coalition’s leader.

But in a letter addressed to the Registrar of Political Parties, John Cox Lorianokou, ODM party sought the decision by Kenyatta be frozen and suspended, maintaining that ODM party leader Oburu Oginga was not consulted in the decision as required under the Azimio deed of agreement.

“It is our considered position that the ODM Party Leader, an expressly named and key constituent party under the Deed of Agreement, was neither informed nor involved in the purported changes,” the letter read in part.

“Consequently, the meeting and its resolutions were ultra vires, in contravention of the express provisions of the Deed of Agreement, and are therefore null and void.”

It went on to note that the power to effect any leadership changes is not vested in a single Party leader but lies with the leaders of the Coalition’s Constituent parties, namely, ODM, Jubilee Party, and the  Wiper Patriotic Front.