Members of Parliament allied to Deputy President William Ruto have vowed to shoot down proposed electoral laws in what could frustrate President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Azimio’s plans.
The proposed amendments scheduled for a special sitting next week and sponsored by Kieleweke legislators are intended to create a legal structure for the formation of a political coalition under the Azimio La Umoja banner.
The Political Parties Amendment Bill 2021 is sponsored by Kipipiri MP Amos Kimunya of the Jubilee party and his ODM counterpart Opiyo Wundayi.
President Uhuru Kenyatta and his handshake partner Raila Odinga are relying on the amendments to form a coalition party that is expected to extinguish William Ruto’s State House dreams in the 2022 elections.
However, William Ruto allied MPs said they would oppose the Bill claiming that the amendments are technically crafted to suit President Uhuru and Raila Odinga’s personal interests.
Led by Garissa Township MP Aden Duale, Caleb Kositany (Soi), Nelson Koech (Belgut), and nominated MP Cecil Mbarire, the legislators further claim the changes are intended to influence President Uhuru Kenyatta’s succession matrix.
While protesting the planned changes, former Leader of Majority in the National Assembly who currently subscribes to the ideas of the UDA, Duale said the proposed amendments would introduce party dictatorship if passed.
“Parties get into exclusive coalitions of their own volitions and not to be shepherded into ceding the right to field in an election to the coalition,” Duale told the Daily Nation.
“Because Jubilee failed to punish some of us wrongfully accused of all manner of things, it now wants to entrench political party’s dictatorship by creating coalition parties which only serves to promote tribalism and goes against the ideals that made us form Jubilee. We will reject this thing,” said Soy MP Caleb Kositany.
