Sunday, February 3, 2013

Coalitions agonise over House strength


By Mwaniki Munuhe
As presidential campaigns enter fever pitch, political coalitions are scratching their heads over strategies to ensure a comfortable majority in Parliament and Senate.
The new Constitution has widened the role of Parliament to include approval of some major presidential appointments and has created the Senate.
The next president will inevitably require comfortable support in Parliament and the Senate to avoid possible frustrations in making certain decisions.
Equally important is that some of the seats the political coalitions have allocated to certain politicians are only achievable if such arrangements garner a comfortable majority in Parliament and the Senate.
One such critical position created by Article 108 of the Constitution, is the Leader of Majority in Parliament.
The Article reads in part: “There shall be a leader of the majority party and a leader of the minority party. The leader of the majority party shall be the person who is the leader in the National Assembly of the largest party or coalition of parties. The leader of the minority party shall be the person who is the leader in the National Assembly of the second largest party or coalition of parties.”
Presidential candidates are expected to drum up support for various candidates in their coalitions to satisfy the desired number.
However, some presidential candidates are already between a rock and a hard place after none of the parties in all the coalitions agreed to hold joint nominations.
For this reason, different candidates within a coalition are campaigning against themselves, effectively making it difficult for their presidential candidates to endorse either of them.
Speaking to The Standard On Sunday, a key member of the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD), outgoing Kangundo MP Johnstone Muthama, said as things stand now, none of the coalitions can be confident of a majority in Parliament.
“For any political party to say they are well organised and sure of a majority in Senate and Parliament is a lie. When you fail to hold proper nominations, there isn’t much you can be sure about,” said Muthama
For instance, he said Muthama CORD had agreed to hold joint nominations ostensibly to front the strongest candidate in all the electoral positions, but the proposal hit a snag after sections of the coalition declined to endorse it.
Joint primaries
“We had agreed to front candidates in every region through joint nomination. But to my disappointment, every party, ODM, Wiper and Ford Kenya fronted their candidates and we are now competing among ourselves. The same case applies in other parties. The truth is we are still hiding behind our tribal cocoons,” he added.
The same situation prevails in the Jubilee Alliance where candidates on The National Alliance (TNA) ticket are competing against candidates on Charity Ngilu’s NARC or William Ruto’s United Republican Party (URP).
For instance, in Kiambu County, outgoing Juja MP William Kabogo (TNA) is facing off with James Nyoro of Charity Ngilu’s Narc while in Nairobi, Ferdinard Waititu (TNA) is facing Jimnah Mbaru (APK) and Evans Kidero (ODM).
But outgoing Dujis MP Aden Duale, also a contender for the post of Leader of Majority in Parliament, expressed confidence Jubilee will garner a comfortable majority in the Senate and National Assembly.
Jubilee strategy
“Our strategy is to deliver 184 elected MPs. We are confident URP will bring 98 while TNA will bring 86. We hope to get at least 32 women representatives. That will obviously give us more than 50 per cent in Parliament. Arising from that, we shall then confidently get the leader of majority position, the Speaker and his two deputies,” said Duale. 
He added: “In the Senate, we are confident of winning 14 counties within the Rift Valley, eight within Mount Kenya, four in Coast, three in North Eastern and three in Eastern. That effectively means we shall have 32 senators before we even nominate women.”
Part of the presidential appointments Parliament is mandated to approve include Cabinet Secretaries, the Attorney-General, Secretary to the Cabinet, Principal Secretaries, High Commissioners, ambassadors and diplomatic and consular representatives.



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