Speaker of the National Assembly Moses Wetang’ula has moved to court to stop a contempt case filed against him.
On Friday, April 4, 2025, he asked the High Court to reject the application, saying it is unfair and has no legal basis.
The contempt case was filed by 12 parties who are unhappy with a decision Wetang’ula made in October 2022.
In that ruling, he declared that the Kenya Kwanza coalition was the majority party in Parliament, while Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya was the minority.
Wetang’ula based this on the number of Members of Parliament who supported each side at the time.
However, the High Court later found that the Speaker’s declaration was against the law.
A three-judge bench ruled in February 2025 that Azimio was legally the majority party in Parliament.
The judges said Wetang’ula had ignored an official report from the Registrar of Political Parties, which showed that Azimio had more registered parties than Kenya Kwanza by April 2022.
The court said Wetang’ula acted unconstitutionally and went against the law when he ignored the registrar’s report.
The ruling caused political tension, as it changed the power structure in the National Assembly.
In response, Wetang’ula went to the Court of Appeal, asking it to suspend the High Court ruling.
But the Court of Appeal refused, saying that giving such orders would affect the ongoing case.
Now, Wetang’ula and the National Assembly have filed a preliminary objection.
They argue that the contempt case is not valid because no direct court order was given to them to follow or ignore.
They say that since the court did not ask them to do anything specific, they cannot be punished for contempt.
The High Court has directed both sides to file their responses within 10 days. The case will be heard again on July 17, 2025.
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