Speaker declines to declare seat vacant

National Assembly Speaker Kenneth Marende has saved Kitutu Chache constituents the trouble of going into a by-election after declining to declare the seat vacant.

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which sponsored the current MP, Foreign Affairs assistant minister Richard Onyonka, had written to the Speaker in November and December last year, asking him to declare the seat vacant because the MP had shifted his allegiance to “other political entities”.

Through Nchogu, Omwanza and Nyasimi Advocates, PDP further argued that the Registrar of Political Parties had “confirmed” to them that Mr Onyonka is not a member of the party and that he does not belong to any other political party.

In his ruling, dated January 12, this year, the Speaker declined to declare the seat vacant, saying Mr Onyonka had not violated any laws relating to the vacation of a parliamentary seat. He stated that he was yet to receive any letter from Mr Onyonka announcing his resignation from the party.

“Where a member intends to resign from a political party, the member is, by section 17(2) of the Political Parties Act, required to give written notice to the Clerk of the National Assembly. No such communication has been received from Hon Onyonka,” he said.

The Speaker also acted on the advice of legal experts to the effect that no evidence had been forwarded to prove that Mr Onyonka had joined another political party as alleged by the party.

“Section 17(4) of the Political Parties Act expressly requires that the Member should have ‘joined’ another political party and such evidence should be provided. It is not enough to allege that the Member has “changed allegiance,” reads the letter.

The Speaker also dismissed claims by the party that the Registrar of Political Parties had confirmed that Mr Onyonka did not belong to any political party, saying no evidence had been given to prove that.

“In light of the foregoing, there is no legal basis on which the Speaker would proceed to declare the Kitutu Chache constituency seat vacant,” reads the letter.

Although Mr Onyonka was elected on a PDP ticket, he has associated with Prime Minister Raila Odinga and ODM.