United Democratic Movement (UDM) Party led by Mandera Senator Ali Roba has filed a lawsuit to quit the Azimio One Kenya coalition.
UDM called out the advisory by the Registrar of Political Parties who says they had merged with Azimio led by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga yet it had previously allied itself with the United Democratic Alliance (UDA).
UDM was the first to switch to UDA which is the ruling party led by President William Ruto after claiming to have been forced to sign a pre-election coalition deal in the August poll.
Azimio set a Deed of Agreement that states that political parties who feel dissatisfied with the treatment or want to shift loyalty to other political parties should issue a 90 days’ notice to the council of their intention to withdraw from the coalition.
“Any party may withdraw from the Coalition agreement upon giving 90 days’ notice to the Coalition council of its intention to withdraw from the coalition party. No party may withdraw from the coalition six months before the August 2022 General elections or within three months after the date of the said General elections,” a part of the Deed reads.
Roba argues that the coalition agreement retrenches his freedom of association and political rights to negotiate and join a coalition until the end of three months after the general elections.
Azimio has a majority of 173 members of parliament while Kenya Kwanza has a total of 164 members while 12 of the 349 are independent members and are not considered in assigning the majority side.
The action made by UDM will settle the grievances of the Azimio Coalition and Kenya Kwanza on who holds the majority position in the National Assembly.