National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi has formally received and accepted the list of National Super Alliance (Nasa) leaders in the House.
The list received on Wednesday has Suba South MP John Mbadi as minority leader, Robert Mbui (Kathiani) as his deputy and Junet Mohamed (Suna East) as minority whip.
NO LIST
Kiminini MP Chris Wamalwa has been appointed Mr Mohamed’s deputy.
Mr Muturi on Wednesday directed the leader of majority and minority to expedite the formation of House committees.
The Nasa list has been delayed for months after the alliance’s affiliate parties— ODM, Ford-Kenya and Wiper— squabbled over the limited House positions.
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But while Mr Muturi received and accepted the nominees, it seems the fight is far from over.
Moments after the speaker announced receipt of the nominees, Coast MPs, led by Suleiman Dori of Msambweni, called a press conference to protest the move.
BALANCE
They said they were opposed to the list because Nasa did not call a parliamentary group meeting to choose the nominees.
The submitted list, they said, lacked regional representation and gender balance.
The list does not have a single woman.
In a related matter, Nasa said it would not submit a list of its members to the National Assembly Committee on Appointment.
The committee is chaired Mr Muturi and is responsible for vetting Cabinet secretaries as nominated by the president.
However, Mr Mbadi said the coalition would submit the names to the other House committees— housekeeping, watchdog and departmental.
PROTEST
“We do not want to be party to the appointment of CSs because we do not recognise the election of Uhuru Kenyatta as president,” Mr Mbadi said.
The move not to submit the names is informed by Nasa leadership meeting in Maanzoni on Friday where it was agreed that the opposition would not be party to the vetting of CSs.
Mr Mbadi, who deputises the leader of majority on the Committee on Selection, said lists to the other committees would be submitted on Thursday.
The coalition is expected to retreat on Wednesday to finalise the list.
Mr Mbadi noted that Nasa had communicated to its members to choose the committees they would wish to join.
“The purpose of this is to make our members to be more productive and feel comfortable in choosing the committees they want,” Mr Mbadi said.
