President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto during a past media briefing at State House Nairobi. [Photo/ nairobinews.nation.co.ke]
An opposition Member of Parliament has castigated Jubilee Party for de-whipping five MPs who went against the party's voting will in the House during the election of various committees' leaders in the National Assembly.Shinyalu MP Mugalia Kizito termed the decision to de-whip lawmakers Alfred Keter (Nandi Hills), Silas Tiren (Moiben), David Bowen (Marakwet North), Alex Kosgey (Emgwen) and James Gakuya (Embakasi North) as discriminatory and an affront to MPs' will to vote freely for the leaders they want."I am saddened that Jubilee Party has gone a notch higher to de-whip the five members from sitting in any House committee even as a court order against the move still stands. What level of impunity is that?" he asked.Kizito said the five MPs should have retained the seats since they were elected by their colleagues on the basis of their leadership capacities, adding that they were better than their competitors."Funny enough they have been de-whipped for funny reasons to do with party loyalty that doesn't make sense to us (MPs) and millions of Kenyans," said Kizito on Tuesday.The ODM legislator, in an opinion piece published by the Standard, told 'outside forces' to keep off MPs' affairs and let them have a free hand in getting popular leaders in committees."There is a general feeling in the House that some outside forces want to impose on the House committees MPs who don't have the popular mandate as the House would have wished," he said."A feeling of betrayal and dictatorship that reduces Parliament vote to supervision by trivial interests that, if not watched will hurt how parliamentary committees execute their duties," Kizito added.