Piece by: MAUREEN KINYANJUI

07 October 2022

• Jalang'o on Friday laid the blame on party members who ditched the Azimio.

• Wetang'ula ruled that the Kenya Kwanza Coalition is the majority party in the National Assemby.

Phelix Odiwuor, also known as Jalang'o, a Lang'ata MP, has lamented the state Azimio la Umoja Coalition party's loss of majority leadership in the National Assembly.

Jalang'o on Friday laid the blame on party members who ditched the camp for the loss saying it's over for the Raila Odinga-led caravan after speaker Moses Wetang'ula ruled that rivals Kenya Kwanza were the majority side.

"It is these 14 people who changed everything for us. Right now, Azimio would have been the majority buana! Its over for us,” he said.

On Thursday, Wetang'ula ruled that the Kenya Kwanza Coalition is the majority party in the House and explained that no member of the 13th Parliament was elected under the Azimio banner.

"The Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition political party nominated members under the names of its constituent parties," Wetangula said.

The speaker poked holes into the Azimio saying some of its members it was banking on to lay claim to the majority status decamped from the coalition.

Wetang'ula said the Azimio coalition party initially comprised of 26 political parties but some parties left the outfit after the August 9 general election.

Among them are United Democratic Movement (UDM) and Maendeleo Chap Chap party led by former Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua.

Jalang'o, however, questioned Mutua's justification for ditching Azimio on grounds that he signed the coalition pact under duress.

He said Mutua was being dishonest for claiming he was forced to sign the deal.

"Can you imagine Mutua saying he was pushed to sign an agreement he didn’t know the details? We are not the custodian of coalition agreements, it's the registrar of political parties who sent the letter that said Azimio was the majority party,"Jalang'o said.

Before joining Kenya Kwanza , Mutua claimed he had been sidelined in the affairs of Azimio and was denied the opportunity to field candidates in some areas.

"Unlike Azimio, here is a document we signed, and we know its contents. They played us and sneaked a document on zoning. They have been doing nothing but managing us," he said shortly after joining President William

Ruto's Kenya Kwanza on May 9.

The United Democratic Movement (UDM) party also announced its exit from Azimio and joined the Kenya Kwanza alliance in August.

Party boss, Mandera Senator Ali Roba cited transparency deficit in Azimio as the reason behind UDM's exit from the outfit.

"The opaqueness with which Azimio has operated is what will lead to everybody leaving. I'm honoured to be accepted back. Today we have signed something we know,” Roba said on August 19.