Thursday June 4, 2020
Garissa Township MP Aden Duale at State House on June 2, 2020 for the Jubilee PG meeting.
Image: FREDERICK OMONDI
National Assembly Leader of Majority Aden Duale has dismissed legislators said to be collecting signatures to remove him from office.
The Garissa Township MP on Wednesday told off the team reportedly led by his Kieni counterpart Kanini Kega asking them to respect the President’s decision to retain him at the post.
It is reported that the lawmakers after the House leader have marshaled 117 signatures to back the motion.
Duale was spared in the purge which has claimed 16 in the political bloodbath that is the latest of the deep rift in the President Uhuru Kenyatta led party. “I am aware Kega is allegedly collecting signatures to impeach me and supersede the decision of the HE the President and the party leader of Jubilee Party,” he said in a statement.He restated that the party approved his position as Majority Leader, further accusing the Kieni lawmaker of using the opportunity to get to him.
Kega is yet to comment on the claims.
Duale said the team was collecting signatures in vain, referring to the Standing Order outlining the process of removal of the Majority Leader.
The rules state that it takes a majority of votes of all members of the majority party in a Parliamentary Group meeting chaired by the party leader.
The MP maintained that the procedure requires that the decision of the meeting is communicated by the Majority Whip to the Speaker. “There is no place for collection of signatures. In any case the process was already completed yesterday in the meeting chaired by H.E The President in which Kanini Kega also attended,” Duale said.
“We are used to his antics and threats and we are not boarding. How else would you explain a second term Member of Parliament who already knows the rules of procedure for removal of a Leader of Majority feigning ignorance and purporting to collect signatures?” he asked.
Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu earlier said: “If the President wanted Duale to go, Duale would have gone. The President chose not to remove him - for his own reasons.”
“If today the President decides Duale should go, he will not last an hour. The party will get it done. The President doesn’t need us to collect signatures to remove Duale.”