The Speaker cited an order by a High Court judge in Kiambu that purportedly prevents Azimio from replacing Chege as whip until some related case pending in court is resolved.
The coalition’s move to replace Chege as whip came about because of the ongoing wrangles in Jubilee where a faction of the former ruling party wants to wrestle control of the outfit from retired President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The Speaker’s ruling reeks of duplicity because it flies in the face of common sense and is contrary to what the he himself has said in the past about these matters.
The nonsensical part is simple: it just makes no sense for anyone to insist that a person who has decamped from the opposition in Parliament must nonetheless remain as its Minority whip.
That just makes no sense no matter how you look at it. It is akin to a pastor who converts to Muslim and insists on remaining as pastor of the church he or she has separated from.
The constitutional bit is not as nonsensical, but it equally fizzles in the face of scrutiny.
When Wetang'ula was Senate Minority leader during the 12th Parliament, he rightly and convincingly made the argument that court orders against Parliament are unconstitutional and undermine Parliament’s authority.
When Nasa moved to replace him as Minority leader, Wetang'ula went to the Senate floor to protest the move, warning Nasa if they succeeded, watakiona cha mtema kuni (there will be severe consequences). “Divorce with Nasa will be messy; it will be noisy and will not be easy,” he warned.
The question now is whether his ruling on Chege is making good on his warning, or he has now suddenly had a change of heart to entertain and advance judicial intervention with the legislature’s functions. And that is assuming there is judicial intervention.
According to Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna, the court order cited by Wetang'ula may not even exist at all. Sifuna claims that the court order was not served to the minority side prior to the ruling.
This, according to the senator, renders the existence of the order questionable and the Speaker’s ruling dubious as it is not in conformity with parliamentary standing orders.
Another question that can be asked is whether Wetang'ula is doing the President’s bidding to wrestle Jubilee from Uhuru and bring it fully within UDA. It’s a plausible scenario but one full of pitfalls and mines ahead.
There’s nothing wrong for a President to try and woo as much support from the opposition as possible for their causes. However, there is a fine line where one should not cross and that is, where the wooing renders the opposition useless.
The President himself has acknowledged and repeatedly said we need a strong opposition. It is also for this reason the President proposed having an official Office of the Opposition leader. That being the case, destroying Jubilee or leaving it in shambles after all the wrangles are over is neither in his or the country’s interest.
Moreover, any effort to destroy Jubilee or splinter it to a faction that is in UDA and another that stays with Uhuru and those aligned with him is a recipe for unnecessary battles the President and UDA don’t need.
The late John Michuki famously said rattling snakes is never a good idea. One of Uhuru’s close allies recently said Uhuru was prepared to retire from politics but has been forced back in because of being rattled.
There is no doubt the first stop for the retired President to flex his muscle is in making sure that the Jubilee faction challenging his leadership of the party is crushed at least within the party.
That’s a battle the Speaker should try and stay away from as a participant.
