New Parliament sitting 'illegal', no business without NASA MPs - Wandayi

The National Assembly clerk must revoke the gazette notice on the first 12th Parliament's first sitting, ODM secretary for political affairs Opiyo Wandayi has said.

Wandayi is the latest Opposition official to speak against the swearing of MPs during the sitting next Thursday.

The Opposition issued a statement saying members will stay away from the ceremony until matters surrounding Uhuru Kenyatta’s "supposed re-election" are heard and credibly determined.

But Majority leader Aden Duale said NASA should stop "badmouthing the first sitting of Parliament" and added its leaders are dishonest and have ill motives.

More on this: Uhuru is still your president, Duale tells NASA on MPs' swearing-in

Wandayi said the "clerk should not to proceed with an illegality in the rush to score some cheap political points".

"Let that gazette notice be revoked and the first sitting of Parliament rescheduled to a date after the Supreme Court pronouncement on the presidential election petition currently before it," he said.

In a statement on Saturday, he said no parliamentary business will proceed without MPs under the National Super Alliance.

Wandayi said Jubilee cannot marshal the requisite numbers to conduct the election of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker.

"So instead of engaging in juvenile chest-thumping, these MPs should take time and acquaint themselves with the relevant laws and Standing Orders."

He said the only task the clerk will be able to perform is to swear-in Jubilee MPs.

"He will not be able to proceed with the election of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker for the simple reason that Jubilee does not command a two-thirds majority in either the Senate or the National Assembly," he said.

"And yet at the first round of voting for each of the two positions, a threshold of two thirds of the total House membership is a requirement."

The Opposition coalition went to the Supreme Court to challenge the presidential election result, candidate Raila Odinga and others alleging massive irregularities.

But Duale, who is Garissa Town MP-elect, said there was no vacuum in the office of the president after he was declared the winner.

Read: [STATEMENT] NASA giving Supreme Court second chance, Raila says on election

Also read: Uproar in NASA as ODM plots to fill key Bunge slots

Article 106 (1)(a) states that the election must be done in accordance with the Standing Orders.

Standing Order Number 7 (1) of the National Assembly is explicit that a person shall not be elected as Speaker unless supported in a ballot by the votes of two-thirds of all members.

It follows, therefore, that before voting commences, the clerk must ascertain, through a physical head count, that at least two-thirds of all members are present in the chambers (233 in the case of the National Assembly).

Source