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{
    "id": 1368958,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1368958/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 137,
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    "speaker_name": "",
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    "content": "Hon. Members, the next Communication relates to the replacement of the Deputy Whip of the Minority Party and Jubilee Party leadership. You will recall that on Thursday, 8th June 2023, I issued a Communication on update of the replacement of the Deputy Whip of the Minority Party. In that Communication, I guided the House. The correspondence received on the replacement of Hon. Sabina Chege as the Deputy Whip of the Minority Party had been effectively suspended by a court order. The order in question was issued on Tuesday, 30th May 2023 in Kiambu High Court Petition No. E025 of2023: Association of Friends of Youths and Women versus the Speaker of the NationalAssembly and three others. I wish to inform the House of the developments in the cited case since my aforesaid communication. My office is now in receipt of a ruling delivered by the Kiambu High Court dismissing the matter. In the ruling, the court held as follows and I quote: (a) Notice of preliminary objection dated 12th June 2023 is partly found to have merit in view of the doctrine of exhaustion. (b) The notice of motion application dated 30th May 2023, is found lacking in merit and is dismissed accordingly. (c) The parties to move to the appropriate forum for further orders with regard to the petition and the application for rejoinder by the fourth and fifth respondents. Hon. Members, I am advised that the upshot of the ruling is that in dismissing the application made by the petitioners, the court redirected the petitioner to an appropriate forum for further orders. In effect, the petitioners have been referred to the dispute resolution mechanisms provided for under the Political Parties Act, 2011. The matter, therefore, remains live within the jurisdiction of the competent authorities even as the Speaker is being urged to decide on the matter. Those urging the Speaker to decide on the matter, ought to realise that the Speaker’s guidance only facilitates transaction of the business of this House. It is not in any way linked to the role bestowed upon other competent authorities by law. From the onset, the process of the replacement of the Deputy Whip of the Minority Party has been tied at the hip with the request by a section of members of the Jubilee Party to be recognised as a parliamentary party. From my communication of 4th May 2023, upon the request for the de-whipping of the Deputy Whip of the Minority Party, I received a letter from the Member of Parliament for Nakuru Town West Constituency, Hon. Samuel Arama, seeking recognition of the Jubilee Party as a parliamentary party. The letter from Hon. Arama added to the already existing confusion with regard to the affairs of Jubilee Party. I had previously received two letters dated 21st September 2022 from Hon. Jeremiah Kioni on the leadership of the Jubilee Party and its nominee to the Speaker’s Panel. At the time, Hon. Kanini Kega also claimed to communicate on behalf of Jubilee Party as the Acting Secretary-General. In my then guidance to the House, I noted the need to leave determination of political parties’ disputes to competent authorities outside Parliament as envisaged by the law. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}