Jubilees Kihika and Murkomen move to court to oppose ouster

Former Leader of Majority in the senate Kipchumba Murkomen and Minority Whip Susan Kihika have moved to court to challenge their ouster.

The High Court on Tuesday certified their application as urgent with Justice James Makau set to determine the matter.

Among those listed as respondents are Registrar of Political Parties, Senate Speaker Ken Lusaka, Jubilee party secretary General Raphael Tuju and KANU’s chairman Nelson Dzuya.

In the pleadings presented to the court, Murkomen and Kihika claimed the respondents disregarded the law by getting into an illegal coalition in order to have the numbers for the ouster.

“The respondents have in blatant violation of the law engaged in an illegal coalition where after have purported with the strength of the said coalition to remove the Majority Leader and Majority Whip of the Senate in blatant disregard of lawful procedures,” the application notes.

In the case which will be mentioned on Thursday, the senators Murkomem and Kihika have been allowed to serve the respondents via e-mail.

Those opposed to the change in the Jubilee senate leadership argue that the Jubilee-KANU coalition was null and could not have been used to reach the quorum for the Monday ouster.

For instance, Murkomen claims the 20 senators who reportedly voted in favour of the ouster were only 17 since the three from KANU could not have purported to speak for Jubilee.

On Tuesday, The coalition deal between President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party and Gideon Moi’s Kenya African National Union (KANU) was suspended.

According to the Political Parties Disputes Resolution Tribunal, the interim order will remain in effect until a duly convened National Executive Committee (NEC) approves the pact.

“(The Jubilee-KANU coalition deal) violated Article 10, 38, 73 and 91 of the Constitution of Kenya, the Political Parties Act, Regulation 21 of the Political Parties (Registration) Regulations 2019 and Article 32.2 of the 1st Interested Party’s Constitution and any decision emanating therefrom is invalid, illegal and had no effect in law,” the order reads.

This comes even after Senate speaker Kenneth Lusaka upheld the ouster, saying that 20 senators voted to have Murkomen and Kihika replaced by KANU’s Samuel Poghisio and Jubilee’s Irungu Kanga’ta respectively.

The two who are close Ruto allies have been accused of among other things, sabotaging the president’s agenda in what insiders call gross insubordination.