By NJERI RUGENE nrugene@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Saturday, March 16 2013 at 22:47
Posted Saturday, March 16 2013 at 22:47
IN SUMMARY
- APK will have two members in the Senate – Mr Murungi and his Embu county Senator-elect counterpart Lenny Kivuti.
- In the National Assembly, the race for the Speaker’s seat is expected to hot up soon after the President issues a notice setting a date for the first meeting of the 11th Parliament.
Energy minister Kiraitu Murungi says he is ready and willing to take up the position of Majority Leader in the Senate.
Mr Murungi, the Meru county Senator-elect, is the leader of the Alliance Party of Kenya popularly known as “the Bus” which yesterday formally joined the Jubilee coalition of President-elect Uhuru Kenya and his Deputy William Ruto.
“APK has always been with Uhuru Kenyatta who received tremendous support in the larger Meru region.
And because he is one of the leaders of Jubilee coalition, APK naturally belongs to the Jubilee family,” said the former South Imenti MP.
APK will have two members in the Senate – Mr Murungi and his Embu county Senator-elect counterpart Lenny Kivuti.
Some TNA MPs from the region, led by Tharaka-Nithi Senator-elect Kindiki Kithure, have expressed reservations over suggestions to have Mr Murungi picked as the Senate Majority Leader arguing that his party was an opponent in the just-ended elections.
Mr Kithure is one of the candidates who have shown interest in the powerful position in the Senate. His TNA party has 12 seats while URP, the other Jubilee partner, has nine while Narc of Health minister Charity Ngilu has one through Nyeri Town Senator-elect Mutahi Kagwe.
A former Information minister, Mr Kagwe is also keen on the position.
His supporters argue that the seat “rightfully” belongs to Narc because Mrs Ngilu had been promised the seat when the coalition was set up. Mrs Ngilu was defeated in the race for the Kitui county seat by Wiper’s David Musila.
In the Jubilee plan, URP is expected to present the candidate for Senate Speaker. Mr Ekwee Ethuro, who lost in his bid for Turkana county seat to Ford-Kenya’s John Munyes, is a front-runner for the job. T
he former Turkana Central MP has been a member of the Speaker’s panel – as a temporary deputy speaker – in the Tenth Parliament.
Yesterday, Mr Murungi said that since APK was now part of the Jubilee coalition, this puts him in a comfortable position to bid for the Senate position. The party has five MPs in the National Assembly.
However, Mr Murungi, a lawyer, says if he does not get picked for the seat, he will be willing to sit in any of the House committees in the Senate.
In the National Assembly, the race for the Speaker’s seat is expected to hot up soon after the President issues a notice setting a date for the first meeting of the 11th Parliament.
For now, the contest appears to be between former MPs and lawyers Abdikadir Mohammed, Danson Mungatana and Justin Muturi.
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