Members of the National Assembly allied to Deputy President William Ruto Wednesday played tricks by proposing amendments to every close in the Political Parties (Amendment) Bill 2021 to force divisions and delay the conclusion of the debate on the bill in the committee stage.
Convening on the 1st day of the special sitting MPs rejected all proposed amendments by the lawmakers allied to the DP including one by Garissa Township MP Aden Duale that sought to remove timelines for coalitions to register with office of registrar of political parties.
Political parties forming a coalition must file their agreements with the registrar of political parties by April.
This is after MPs adopted an amendment by leader of majority Amos Kimunya reducing the timeline from 6months to four months. MPs rejected the proposal by Garissa Township MP Aden Duale to remove timelines. 128Mps voted against the amendment by Duale while 104mps supported the removal of timelines.
Amendment by Nambale MP Sakwa Bunyasi seeking to bar coalition party from fielding candidates in other positions other than president was opposed by leader of majority and supported by members allied to UDA.
Upon being subjected to a vote, 132 MPs voted to allow the coalition party to field candidate in all positions while 111 MPs objected. Attempt by Kiminini MP Didmus Barasa to amend the bill by deleting the clause that punishes members of political parties who promote ideals of other parties also flopped.
The house rejected all proposals by MPs allied to UDA with 54% of members constantly voting against the amendments. By the end of the day the house had barely dispensed off with 10 clauses.
