On Friday, March 21, 2025, the Court of Appeal refused to stay rulings from the High Court pertaining to the National Assembly’s majority coalition.
Speaker Moses Wetang’ula of the Kenyan National Assembly filed a request for stay orders in the Court of Appeal against the three-judge panel’s decision to declare Azimio the National Assembly’s majority coalition.
Speaker Wetangula contended that if the stay orders on the majority coalition ruling are not implemented, the House will become dysfunctional.
Justices Mumbi Ngugi, Daniel Musinga, and Francis Tuiyott delivered the decision, stating that the High Court’s decision regarding the party with the majority in the August house did not provide any evidence of the National Assembly’s dysfunction.
They added that, despite some acrimony, the National Assembly had carried on with its functions even after the February 12, 2025, verdict.
Interestingly, the court of appeals declined to decide whether Moses Wetang’ula, the speaker of the National Assembly, could serve as both the speaker and the leader of the Ford Kenya Party.
The justices ruled that they could only stay a positive order given by the trial court and that they could not make the same ruling in an application for a stay of proceedings or execution as the one that was before them.
Moses Wetang’ula, the Speaker of the National Assembly, informed the court on February 26, 2025, through attorney Elisha Ongoya, that the parliament was in a state of disarray after the three-judge panel rejected the idea that Azimio held a majority in the House.
He added that the House was not operating as effectively as it had previously, and that both the Kenya Kwanza and Azimio coalitions were vying for the job.
Wetang’ula also criticized the High Court’s decision for reversed his decision regarding the majority and minority coalition before doing a thorough analysis of the available data.
Attorney Ongoya, who appeared before a three-judge panel consisting of Justices Mumbi Ngugi, Daniel Musinga, and Francis Tuiyott, described the High Court’s decision as a grave error that would have unfavorable effects.
He added that coalitions formed after an election have the ability to make minor changes to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission’s (IEBC) announcement.
The court was further informed that the conflict is between four political parties and that UDM and MDG officials’ signatures are missing from the Azimio coalition agreement, casting doubt on their official coalition membership.
Notably, Ongoya warned the court that if the plea for stay orders was denied, the Speaker would be imprisoned for contempt of court.
Ongoya said that it would be unfortunate if the speaker was brought to the dock.
Attorney Kibe Mungai, however, requested that the court deny the National Assembly stay orders, arguing that Azimio is still the dominant coalition in accordance with the High Court’s decision.
He also accused Speaker Wetang’ula of causing the disarray in the House, claiming that he should have previously permitted Azimio to take over as majority leader.
A three-judge panel consisting of Justice Ngaah Jairus, Chigiti Mugwimi, and Lawrence Mugambi declared Azimio the majority party in the National Assembly on February 7, 2025, ruling that Kenya Kwanza is not.
Additionally, the panel ruled that Moses Wetang’ula, the speaker of the National Assembly, had breached the Constitution when he made the contentious decision about which party or coalition parties held the majority in the Assembly.
In an attempt to support the Kenya Kwanza coalition and give it the ability to claim majority status, the speaker decided on October 6, 2022, to assign 14 members from different parties to the Kenya Kwanza coalition.
Wetang’ula announced that the coalition party Azimio la Umoja One had 157 members in the House, while Kenya Kwanza had 179.
However, as of April 21, 2021, the Registrar of Political Parties’ data show that Kenya Kwanza had 15 political parties and the Azimio coalition party had 26.
On October 6, 2022, the court determined that the Speaker lacked a legitimate basis for reassigning other members to Kenya Kwanza, thereby designating it as the majority party in the house.
