The Court of Appeal on Friday, March 21, 2025, declined to stay High Court orders regarding the majority coalition in the National Assembly.
The National Assembly of Kenya through Speaker Moses Wetang’ula moved to Court of Appeal seeking stay orders on the three-judge bench ruling declaring Azimio as the Majority coalition in National Assembly.
Speaker Wetangula argued that the House will be dysfunctional if the application of the stay orders on the ruling on the majority coalition is not granted.
Delivering the ruling, Justice Mumbi Ngugi, Daniel Musinga and Francis Tuiyott, stated that there was no evidence showing dysfunction of the National Assembly emanating from the High Court ruling on which party is the majority in the August house.
They further stated that even after the February 12, 2025, ruling the National Assembly has continued to discharge its duties, albeit with some acrimony.
“With regard to the argument that the High Court judgment has highly disrupted the work of the National Assembly, there is no sufficient evidence before us that the business of the National Assembly is likely to grind to a halt unless the orders sought are granted,” ruled the Court of Appeal judges.
Notably, the court of appeal refused to rule on whether the National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula could hold both the positions of the speaker and that of the Ford Kenya Party.
The judges stated that they could not pronounce themselves on the same in an application for a stay of proceedings or execution as the one before them and that they could only stay a positive order that was issued by the trial court.
“Regarding Hon. Wetangula’s dual role as Speaker of the National Assembly and leader of Ford Kenya, it was submitted, and rightly so, that there was no dispositive order that was made by the High Court on the issue,” the Court of Appeal judges ruled.
On February 26, 2025, through lawyer Elisha Ongoya, the Speaker of the National Assembly Moses Wetang’ula told the court that the parliament was in confusion mode since the three-judge bench ruled out that Azimio is the majority in the House.
He further stated that both the Kenya Kwanza and Azimio coalitions were claiming the position and the House was no longer functioning well as before.
“The parliament was functioning properly until the ruling was done sending it to confusion,” lawyer Ongoya told the court.
Wetang’ula also faulted the High Court ruling for overturning his ruling on the majority and minority coalition before properly examining the evidence.
Appearing before a three-judge bench of Justice Mumbi Ngugi, Daniel Musinga and Francis Tuiyott, lawyer Ongoya termed the High Court ruling as a serious mistake that could lead to negative consequences.
Additionally, he stated that post-election coalitions can amend slightly the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission’s (IEBC) declaration at the conclusion of an election.
The court was also told that the dispute revolves among four political parties adding that the Azimio coalition agreement does not bear the signatures of UDM and MDG officials, raising questions about their formal inclusion in the coalition.
Notably, Ongoya told the court that the Speaker risked imprisonment for contempt of court order if the application of stay orders were not granted.
Moreover, Ongoya said that it would be a shame for the speaker to be taken to the dock.
“If the Speaker is taken to the dock, the embarrassment cannot be undone,” Ongoya told the court.
However, lawyer Kibe Mungai asked the court not to grant the National Assembly stay orders stating that Azimio remains the majority coalition as per the High Court ruling.
Further, he blamed Speaker Wetang’ula for the confusion being experienced in the House, stating that he was supposed to have already allowed Azimio to assume the office of the majority.
On February 7, 2025, a three-judge bench Justice Ngaah Jairus, Chigiti Mugwimi, and Lawrence Mugambi ruled that Kenya Kwanza is not the majority party in the National Assembly declaring Azimio as the majority party.
The bench also declared that the National Assembly speaker Moses Wetang’ula violated the Constitution in making the controversial determination on which party or coalition parties was the majority at the Assembly.
On October 6, 2022, the speaker made a decision of assigning 14 members from various parties to Kenya Kwanza, in efforts to favour Kenya Kwanza coalition thus enabling it to claim majority status.
“It is therefore declared that the Honourable speaker determined as contained in his communication to the chair made on October 6, 2022, that the majority and minority in the National Assembly violated the constitution,” part of the ruling read.
Wetang’ula declared that Kenya Kwanza had 179 members in the House against Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition party’s with 157.
However, according to the documents from the Registrar of Political Parties as at April 21, 2021, Azimio coalition party had 26 political parties while Kenya Kwanza had 15.
The court found that the Speaker had no justifiable cornerstone to re-assign other members to Kenya Kwanza on October 6, 2022, thus declaring it the majority party in the house.
“The speaker can’t fault the registrar of political parties. She could not provide what she did not have. The speaker ought to have exhibited the agreement which was alleged to have been presented during the debate without the post-election coalition agreements he had no basis to this regard,” part of the ruling read.
