By Jabali Media
Speaker of the National Assembly Moses Wetang'ula alongside the August House now want the High Court to strike out a contempt of court application.
The case stems from Wetang’ula’s February 12, 2025 ruling on the leadership of the National Assembly, where he declared that Kenya Kwanza is the majority, despite the court initially having ruled in favour of Azimio.
In a preliminary objection filed in court, the Speaker and the National Assembly argue that the contempt application is fundamentally flawed and infringes on their right to a fair hearing.
During a mention of the case today, Justices Jairus Ngaah, John Chigiti, and Lawrence Mugambi, directed that all respondents file their responses to the preliminary objection within 10 ten days.
The Speaker and the National Assembly were also ordered to respond to the contempt application within the same timeframe.
Through their legal teams, the Speaker and the House claim that the contempt proceedings amount to an attempt to introduce a new legal dispute, rather than enforce an existing order.
“There is no clear or enforceable order issued by this Honourable Court that the 3rd and 4th respondents could have violated to warrant contempt proceedings,” they argue.
They further state that “The Court did not issue any directive requiring the 3rd and 4th respondents to act or refrain from acting in a way that could be subject to enforcement through contempt.”
The contempt application was filed by a group of 12 petitioners, among them Kenneth Njagi, Meshack Suba Churchill, and Caroline Mogaka.
The petition challenges Speaker Wetang’ula’s February ruling, in which he reaffirmed Kenya Kwanza as the Majority Party and Azimio la Umoja One Kenya as the Minority Party in Parliament.
The ruling came on the backdrop of a High Court judgment which had set aside an earlier declaration made by the Speaker in August 2022 on the same matter.
Both political coalitions, along with their respective leadership offices, have been named as respondents in the ongoing case.
The High Court is expected to reconvene on July 17, 2025, for the hearing of the matter.
Meanwhile, the National Assembly has already lodged an appeal at the Court of Appeal, seeking to overturn the High Court’s verdict on the House leadership issue.