Wiper demands Nasa talks over House positions

What you need to know:

  • In a meeting chaired by Mr Musyoka at the party headquarters in Nairobi, Wiper said it was dissatisfied with how it was treated in the sharing of the slots.

  • The committee leadership elections were done when Mr Musyoka was on a 10-week stay in Germany where he was taking care of his sick wife Pauline

  • ODM took the Public Accounts Committee chairmanship through Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi, although the coalition had reportedly settled on Mr Musalia Mudavadi’s pointman, Sakwa Bunyasi.

The Kalonzo Musyoka-led Wiper Party Wednesday reignited the Nasa disagreements over leadership positions in parliamentary committees after it demanded a reversal to what it said was the originally agreed on line-up.

In a meeting chaired by Mr Musyoka at the party headquarters in Nairobi, Wiper said it was dissatisfied with how it was treated in the sharing of the slots.

“It is not a light matter. Our members have expressed strong sentiments that when Mr Kalonzo was away, the committee positions were not shared as agreed,” the Wiper party chairman, Prof Kivutha Kibwana, told journalists. “We will be looking for a reversal to the original agreements.”

The committee leadership elections were done when Mr Musyoka was on a 10-week stay in Germany where he was taking care of his sick wife Pauline.

They both returned to the country on January 2.

MAJORITY

During the elections, Nasa leader Raila Odinga’s ODM was accused of bulldozing the rest of the coalition partners in the watchdog committees where the opposition has the majority, and the chairmanship by right.

ODM took the Public Accounts Committee chairmanship through Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi, although the coalition had reportedly settled on Mr Musalia Mudavadi’s pointman, Sakwa Bunyasi (Nambale, ANC).

In the Public Investments Committee, Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir was elected the chairman, leaving Butere MP Tindi Mwale of ANC complaining that his party had once again been shortchanged.

Mr Nassir will be deputised by another ODM lawmaker, Wajir North’s Ahmed Ibrahim.

In the Parliamentary Service Commission, Wiper has claimed it was cheated out of a seat that was to be handed to Borabu MP Bernard Momanyi.

RETREAT

Mr Momanyi, in a previous interview, said ODM should have evenly distributed slots in the Parliamentary Service Commission. “ODM should take two because of their numeric strength and Wiper the remaining one slot,” he said

Wiper now wants Nasa to call a retreat of all its elected leaders to allow consensus over the seats.

This, Prof Kibwana said, will allow Wiper to vent its anger over what it said was the breaking of a gentleman’s agreement.