Activist in court to block ODM leaders from joining William Ruto's Cabinet
From left clockwise: Wycliffe Oparanya, Opiyo Wandayi, Hassan Joho and John Mbadi. Debate about who shall be able to take over the party leader’s position from Raila is causing jostling.
What you need to know:
- President Ruto nominated Mr Joho to the Ministry of Mining, Blue Economy docket, Mr Oparanya as Cabinet Secretary of Cooperatives and MSME Development, Mr Mbadi to Treasury and Mr Wandayi to head the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum.
- Mr Joho and Mr Oparanya are Mr Odinga’s deputies in ODM whereas Mr Mbadi is the ODM chairman. Mr Wandayi, who is also the Ugunja MP is the Minority leader in parliament and ODM secretary for political affairs.
An activist has moved to court to block four members of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) from joining President William Ruto's Cabinet arguing that their nomination is unconstitutional.
Mr Julius Ogogoh through the Commission for Human Rights and Justice filed the petition at the High Court seeking orders to block Parliament from considering and vetting the four nominated ODM politicians.
The nominees include Leader of Minority in the National Assembly and Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi, nominated MP John Mbadi and immediate former county governors Wycliffe Oparanya (Kakamega) and Ali Hassan Joho (Mombasa).
Mr Ogogoh said Kenya is a multi-party democracy and an individual MP or a party cannot cross the floor after an election.
He further stated that the move would weaken the opposition and disable Parliament from playing its oversight role.
“Should any member of the parties forming the 1st respondent (Azimio) collation be nominated and successfully appointed into the cabinet, the opposition in the National Assembly stands to be conflicted and shall be acting in violation of Article 75 of the Constitution,” he said.
President Ruto nominated Mr Joho to the Ministry of Mining, Blue Economy docket, Mr Oparanya as Cabinet Secretary of Cooperatives and MSME Development, Mr Mbadi to Treasury and Mr Wandayi to head the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum.
Mr Joho and Mr Oparanya are Mr Odinga’s deputies in ODM whereas Mr Mbadi is the ODM chairman. Mr Wandayi, who is also the Ugunja MP is the Minority leader in parliament and ODM secretary for political affairs.
Their names have since been forwarded to the Speaker of the National Assembly Moses Wetang’ula who invited memoranda from members of the public.
Even so, Mr Ogogoh wants the court to declare the nominations null and void.
He has named Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Alliance, ODM party, Mr Wetang’ula and the Attorney-General as respondents in the case.
Through lawyer Nicholas Kamwenda, Mr Ogogoh says the four are members of the Azimio coalition, the opposition outfit and therefore, cannot be nominated to serve as Cabinet Secretaries.
“Given the fact that the interest parties as members of the official opposition coalition in the National Assembly, it has a constitutional duty to oversight the function of the Executive and other arms of the government,” he said.
