National Assembly Minority Leader Junet Mohamed. Photo/Newsflash
By Wesley Koech
Azimio la Umoja One Kenya MPs and Senators on Tuesday, 11th February, 2025, felt a rare political warmth after occupying the Majority side of the National Assembly and Senate chambers, following a court ruling declaring them as the Majority Party last week.
In a hilarious tone, Suna East MP Junet Mohamed said this came as a surprise and he never imagined he would sit at the Majority Leader’s seat.
“I am privileged to speak from the seat of National Assembly’s Leader of Majority. The seat is quite warm, unlike mine, which was always cold. I don’t see myself leaving this seat any time soon,” said the legislator.
Junet and his team crossed to the other side of the chamber after High Court’s declaration that Azimio are the majority, forcing their Kenya Kwanza counterparts to sit on the minority side.
He added that they were exercising their constitutional rights.
Suba North MP Millie Odhiambo submitted the court order and a letter declaring the names of the appointees to take up the position of Leader of Majority and their Whip.
“Mr Speaker, I want to just indicate that I have, as the Majority Party Whip of Azimio, today handed over to your office a copy of the High Court’s decision with a letter that our Majority Leaders are Junet Mohamed and Robert Mbui,” said Odhiambo, who is also the Minority Whip.
She urged the Speaker to step down following the position he had taken on the matter because he was going to be conflicted on Parliamentary matters.
“Mr Speaker, I humbly request you to step down and mandate Gladys Boss Sholei to take over in discharging the functions as the Speaker,” said the legislator.
On the other hand, Azimio la Umoja Senators had their rightful positions reserved as they took the court order high up by demanding their recognition as the Majority in the Senate.
According to Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna, the Senate should follow suit by recognising them as the Majority, as the National Assembly had done.
“There is absolutely no mention throughout the entire Senate’s constitution on who should be the Majority. In my view, it means that the leadership or the designation of Majority Party is set in the National Assembly,” said the Senator.
Additionally, the matter took a new twist when Kisi Senator Richard Onyonka’s time to give his remarks came.
Nandi County Senator Samson Cherargei kept on disrupting him. Onyonka had to cool him down.
“Senator Cherargei, I am informing you that when you are at the Minority, that’s how it happens. I welcome you to the Minority side; that is how we usually feel,” he slammed the Senator.
However, the move by the Azimio MPs and Senators did not sit well with their counterparts from Kenya Kwanza, as they openly said that they disagree with the court’s decision.
“I completely disagree with the court in many aspects. The men, who moved to court, went there with 34 prayers, among them is that the court declares Azimio as the Majority Party and the leader of Azimio Coalition be declared as the Majority Leader. The court declined,” said Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichung’wa, who is also the National Assembly Majority Leader.
In their ruling, three High Court judges; John Chigiti, Lawrence Mugambi and Jairus Ngaah, declared Azimio as the Majority Party.
The case had been filed by 12 human rights activists. The judges said that National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula violated the Constitution declaring Kenya Kwanza as the Majority side.
