Deputy President William Ruto has said the lawmakers allied to him will continue to frustrate the Political Parties (Amendment) Bill, which is set to continue next week in a series of special sittings announced by National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi.
Dr Ruto, who has gone full-throttle in his State House bid, has also hit out at tycoons who are out to influence President Uhuru Kenyatta's succession.
In what looked like a direct attack on the declaration at Bukhungu II where Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga was endorsed by a section of Western leaders, led by Central Organisation of Trade Union boss Francis Atwoli, the DP said Kenyans should be allowed to elect whoever they want and not a few individuals sitting in hotels to dictate them.
"They went to sit in Nairobi, roughly 30-50 people, because they have money, saying they conduct interviews of who will be president. Let me ask you, are there people you sent to Nairobi to be interviewed in hotels? Let them know that it is the electorate who will decide whom to vote come next year," said DP Ruto.
On the Political Parties (Amendment) Bill, the DP declared that as long as there is no consensus on the contentious issues, his lieutenants will do all they can to shoot it down or frustrate the parliamentary process.
He scolded the Azimio team for bragging of their numerical strength in the National Assembly, saying his camp now has over 134 MPs who are ready to deal with the proponents of the bill.
"Those we are competing with tried to threaten us to bring MPs, we brought in 134 MPs and their agenda could not go through and it had to be put off. When the bill will be tabled, we will sit down and frustrate it again if they keep on boasting," said the DP.
Dr Ruto pointed out the proposal to shorten the time for coalition-making, which he says is designed to coerce One Kenya Alliance (OKA) leaders to reveal their political strategy by February.
The law currently provides that a pre-election coalition deal must be deposited to the Registrar of Political Parties three months before the General Election.
Speaker Muturi yesterday announced dates for special sittings on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday next week to conclude the bill. The sittings will provide another mouth-watering political clash between Mr Kenyatta, Mr Odinga and the DP on who has the real numbers in the National Assembly.
The Saturday Nation has learnt that the DP allies are planning to force the House to go for a division on each clause of the bill not only to wind down the clock but also convince members of smaller parties to vote with them. Forcing a division on each amendment was a strategy deployed by allies of the DP on Wednesday and was meant to gauge their strength against a combined force of Mr Kenyatta and Mr Odinga—proponents of the Bill.
“We did well on Wednesday through the flimsy amendments. We have now gauged our strength in the House ahead of another special sitting,” Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa said.
Endebes MP Robert Pukose said the DP camp left a happy lot for the second time after succeeding in delaying the consideration of the amendments.
“Yes they have the numbers because it's a one-man army against six men,” Dr Pukose said.
In the three amendments considered, the DP’s camp lost two and managed to beat the handshake team in one pushed by Tigania West MP John Mutunga seeking to amend Clause 3 to allow political parties to have a specific dominant colours after the symbol on the ballot sailed through, with 123 MPs voting for the amendments and 118 allied to President Kenyatta and Mr Odinga voted against.
The DP’s allies hope to build on this win when the House reconvenes next week. They are also banking on their members who did not attend the Wednesday sitting such as Nyali’s Mohammed Ali to make it next week.
Their strategy worked in denying the proponents of the bill any significant move as only three amendments were considered in a sitting that ended at 1:45am.
However, they could not prove that they had the numbers, hence were defeated in the end.
The delaying tactic is bound to fail them again next week as the sitting will now be held for three consecutive days, a move that will provide proponents of the bill with enough time to make significant progress. In addition, voting will be done electronically, thus saving time.
As part of their strategy, DP allies also walked out on Wednesday at midnight during division to vote for Clause 7 of the Bill that was sponsored by Kandara MP Alice Wahome. But the session continued and they ended up losing after 142 MPs voted against the amendment. Their side only mustered 15 votes.
They say the amendments target the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) slogan of Kazi ni Kazi and that if passed, it would be prone to abuse by the State.
“The restriction that parties should register their slogans is unnecessary and against the democratic space. A slogan can change in the cause of campaigns. This particular amendment is targeting some political parties,” Ms Wahome said.
Mr Duale also pointed out that the unfettered powers given to the Registrar of Political Parties to decide whether in her own opinion the slogan of the party should be registered or not is retrogressive and subject to abuse.
However, Mr Wandayi defended the proposed amendment, saying it is meant to weed out slogans that threaten the peace.
“If someone comes up with a slogan that threatens security, the registrar cannot go and ask whether to register the party or not. That is common sense,” Mr Wandayi said.
On the tycoons supporting Mr Odinga, the DP said he does not need the support of the Mount Kenya Foundation and other tycoons but is keen on the support of Kenyans, arguing that for years, the country’s leadership has been determined by the rich.
“Owners of this country are these ordinary Kenyans. We will change the politics of this country. For years, politics of this country has been decided by the tycoons, leaders but this time around, it will be decided by ordinary Kenyans,” said Dr Ruto.
The DP said time has come for voters to stop entertaining persons who think that since they have money, they can influence Kenyans on how to vote. “They are now trying to bring this awkward behaviour in Western. Someone is telling us he is the one who will decide who will be governor, senator, MP and MCA.... this kind of bravado is what we need to unite and put an end to.”
Reported by Samwel Owino, Onyango K’Onyango and Brian Ojamaa
