Nairobi — The long-drawn battle over the Deputy Minority Whip slot in the House took a new twist on Wednesday with the designation of Sabina Chege as Jubilee Whip even as she ceded the Azimio coalition mantle to Mark Mwenje.
National Speaker Moses Wetangula, while allowing Mwenje, a member of the Jubilee Party to assume the role after nearly five months of waiting, directed that Chege would Whip the party's membership in the House since she enjoyed popular support.
Wednesday's ruling opened a new battle front for two factions of the former ruling party with the Chege-led axis vowing to end what it termed as an abusive marriage in Azimio.
The matter on the replacement of Chege as Minority Whip had dragged for months after court battles halting her replacement by the Opposition Coalition.
"Honorable Members, I guide the House as follows that there currently exists no bias against the decision made by the minority party to replace its Deputy Whip," Wetangula declared.
"Standing order 20a(5) requires the speaker to communicate the decision to replace the whip to the house, in this regard, Hon Mark Mwenje forth replaces Sabina Chege as the Deputy whip of the minority party," the Speaker stated.
Protracted court battle
The Nominated MP was axed from the position after she shifted her allegiance from the Azimio Coalition and joined President William Ruto's Kenya Kwanza Alliance.
Azimio Parliamentary Group resolved to have Mwenje replace Chege as the House Minority Deputy Whip on May 30.
Chege moved to court seeking to impede the recommendation by Azimio to have her removed.
On October 9 however, the Kiambu High Court threw out Chege's suit and dismissed the notice of motion filed in May that allowed Sabina to remain as Deputy Minority Whip directing her to exhaust the legal mechanism within the Azimio Coalition.
Parallel Whip
Speaker Wetangula ruled that the Jubilee Party would be recognized as a parliamentary party directing Chege to whip Jubilee Party members in the house.
The Speaker explained that the recognition of the former ruling party as a parliamentary party will not affect the status given to the majority or minority parties in the National Assembly.
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"That consequently the Hon Sabina Chege by virtue of the written support of 21 members out of 28 members of the Jubilee party in the House in the letter that is attended June 22, and on account of having been the last officially recognized member of the Jubilee party, forming part of the leadership is allowed to perform in the interim the role of the whip of that party in the House," Wetangula said.
The National Assembly Speaker added the communication was on an interim basis until the internal wrangles within the Jubilee Party are resolved by the competent authorities.
"That the foregoing guidance is issued in the interim purely for purposes of facilitating the continuation of the business of the house until such time as the speaker will be properly seized of the final determination of the matters relating the Jubilee party by the competent authorities," said Wetangula.
Jubilee has faced leadership wrangles for months now with two groups claiming to be bona fide officials of the party.
One group has remained loyal to Raila Odinga-led Azimio coalition while the other shifted allegiance to President Ruto's Kenya Kwanza.
A good number of MPs have since shifted loyalty to Ruto, cementing his ruling Kenya Kwanza coalition's dominance in the National Assembly.
