Jubilee, CORD MPs battle for key seats

By Mwaniki Munuhe

NAIROBI, KENYA: The battle for key seats in Parliament has taken several new twists as parties within the leading Jubilee and CORD coalitions jostle for the spoils of power.

Some of the contestants for seats in the National Assembly and the Senate are out of the running after falling out with powerful lobbyists or deciding to hold out for other seats in Government.

First to withdraw his candidature was Senator Kiraitu Murungi, who was a frontrunner for the seat of Leader of Majority in the Senate. Kiraitu decided to quit following a meeting involving Members of Parliament and senators from Mt Kenya East on Thursday.

The meeting, we established, agreed that fronting Murungi for that seat would weaken Alliance Party of Kenya’s position in negotiations for more seats within Government. Consequently, said a source who attended the meeting, Murungi will be unable to fight for the retention of several allies whose jobs he secured under President Kibaki’s leadership. The meeting was also apprehensive that if Kiraitu takes the Senate seat, President-elect Uhuru Kenyatta may consider appointing former assistant minister Kilemi Mwiria to Cabinet. Mwiria declined to join Murungi’s APK and was Uhuru’s point man in the region during the just concluded presidential election.

“The issue was how we protect people who are already in Government and ensure that we do not create a situation where somebody who will undermine APK from our area is appointed to Cabinet,” said our source.

Murungi’s led Alliance Party of Kenya has already signed a post-election deal with the Jubileecoalition with the aim of strengthening the capacity of the coalition in both the Senate and the National Assembly.

Different camps

This means that Prof Kindiki Kithure (Tharaka Nithi senator) has only taken opposition from Mutahi Kagwe (Nyeri senator) for the seat of Leader of Majority within the Jubilee coalition. Kagwe is claiming the seat as Narc’s right now that Charity Ngilu, to whom it was pledged, did not make it to the Senate. The Jubilee candidate will face off with Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) candidate Moses Wetangula (Bungoma senator).

Similar differences have locked CORD over the position of Leader of Minority in the National Assembly. The politics surrounding the seat have split candidates into almost three camps with one camp proposing Dalmas Otieno and Nyiva Mwendwa as his deputy while another is proposing Jakoyo Midiwo or Ababu Namwamba, again with Nyiva Mwendwa as deputy.

However, Midiwo is also being fronted to take the position of the chairman to the powerful Public Accounts Committee (PAC) while Simiyu Eseli is being fronted to chair Public Investment Committee in the National Assembly. Both Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and Public Investments Committee (PIC) must go to the Opposition to provide effective oversight on Government.

The position of Government chief whip, we have established, will now go former Internal Security Minister Katoo Ole Metito. Speaking to the Standard On Saturday , a key ally to president elect Uhuru Kenyatta said earlier reports carried by sections of the media linking Moses Ole Sakuda as the favoured candidate for the same seat was a personal opinion but not the position of the coalition.

“The actual position of the coalition is that Katoo is our candidate for the seat of Government chief whip, Aden Duale Leader of Majority and Naomi Shabaan his deputy. Anything else you might have heard is opinion of two or three people and has nothing to do with the coalition,” said our source. We established that Ole Sakuda’s chances were jeopardised after it emerged he was being fronted by two Nairobi leaders who apparently have lost the trust of Uhuru and his deputy William Ruto.

“Even if we were to decide otherwise as a coalition, that seat of government chief whip would most likely go to Jimmy Ang’weny,” added our source.
Office of the whip is crucial because it is at the centre of nominating members of parliament to various departmental committees before the list is put on the floor of the House for approval.

Under the new Constitution, House committees have been given immense powers similar to those of a High Court and can summon any person to appear before them failure to which the committees can institute prosecution against any person who defies their orders. Lobbying for membership to certain committees by MPs has already begun in earnest as Parliament prepares to start official sittings on April 16 this year.