Cord meeting likely to grill Nyenze over ‘jaded role’ as Minority Leader

National Assembly Minority Leader Francis Nyenze will be on the spot when MPs and Senators from the opposition Cord retreat for a midterm review of their performance next weekend.

Mr Nyenze, a Wiper Democratic Movement leader and MP for Kitui West, leads the opposition’s charge in the National Assembly against a dominant Jubilee side, but he has been criticised for jaded leadership.

Key parties in Cord are Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), Wiper Democratic Movement and Ford Kenya.

The Sunday Nation established that the opposition’s Deputy Minority Leader in the Senate, Mr Hassan Abdurrahman (Wajir, ODM), is also slated for similar grilling.

This comes as Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka today leads his party into a strategy meeting at Maanzoni Lodge in Machakos County.

Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar, who is the party’s secretary-general, confirmed the meeting.

“We are meeting to take stock of our performance as a party and review challenges we may have faced and come up with the way forward,” Mr Omar said, adding that all party legislators had been invited to the meeting.

Mr Nyenze is the face of the opposition in the National Assembly, while Ford Kenya leader and Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang’ula is in charge of the opposition’s agenda in the Senate.

Gem MP Jakoyo Midiwo (ODM) is Mr Nyenze’s deputy while Wundanyi MP Thomas Mwadegu (ODM) is the Opposition whip in the National Assembly.

The retreat comes as Cord grapples with the challenge of reining in MPs who are viewed as being friendly to the government.

Mr Nyenze’s critics, who spoke to the Sunday Nation in confidence to avoid rocking the boat before the retreat, accuse him of being an absentee leader who sometimes dodges important but controversial parliamentary sessions and one who has been struggling to bolster the opposition against Jubilee’s “tyranny of numbers”.

“There is no doubt that the post belongs to Wiper; but they should pick somebody else, just like ODM replaced (Kilifi North MP) Gideon Mung’aro as the minority whip last year,” said an ODM MP.

The pressure to force the Kitui West MP out of the powerful House position that comes with some privileges peaked a few weeks ago after he failed to turn up for a crucial meeting called by Cord leader Raila Odinga to discuss the party’s position on a proposed Bill that sought to shift the election date from August to December.

An MP who attended the meeting chaired by Mr Odinga said the Cord leader was disappointed after Mr Nyenze failed to keep the appointment without an apology. The Bill by Ugenya MP David Ochieng’ (ODM) was defeated on Tuesday.

Cord management committee co-chairmen, Senators James Orengo (Siaya, ODM) and Johnstone Muthama (Machakos, Wiper), confirmed that the coalition’s retreat would be on September 6 and 7 but were evasive on whether Mr Nyenze’s performance would be discussed.

“The agenda of the meeting will be circulated later. There is no specific agreement that the matter to do with the Minority Leader will be under discussion,” said Mr Orengo.

He said the meeting would look at various issues, including the Okoa Kenya referendum initiative and related Bills the opposition has been working on.

“We also have to look at the coalition’s future together and discuss how to approach it, knowing very well that we have elections coming,” Mr Orengo said.

Seemingly aware of the debate surrounding his performance, Mr Nyenze last Tuesday hosted Wiper MPs for lunch at a hotel in Nairobi’s city centre to strategise.

And today, the party, led by former Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, has set another retreat for all its MPs and Senators at Maanzoni Lodge in Machakos County to come up with their agenda for next weekend’s coalition talks.

Mr Musyoka has been under pressure in his Ukambani stronghold from a group led by Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua (Wiper) under the banner Maendeleo Chap Chap — loosely translated as “fast development”. Another political storm in his party would be unwelcome.

Mr Nyenze, a veteran politician, told the Sunday Nation he was not aware of complaints about his performance.

“This was a negotiated position. ODM or Ford Kenya cannot claim it,” he said.