Members of Parliament have passed the Political Parties (Amendment) Bill giving the formation of a coalition party greenlight.
The controversial bill that brought chaos between MPs supporting the handshake and those allied to Deputy President William Ruto in the National Assembly, sets the timeframe for coalition formation.
The Bill, sponsored by Majority Leader of the National Assembly Amos Kimunya, will now proceed to the Senate for consideration.
The Bill is intended to pave way for a coalition between President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga namely Azimio la Umoja Movement.
The proposals which are at the core of the Political Parties Amendment Bill proposed that at least six months before the August polls for coalition formation but Kimunya sought to reduce it to at least four months.
The Bill seeks to allow candidates to run on either coalition party tickets or individual parties, among other provisions.
It also defines political parties as an association of citizens with an unidentifiable ideology or programme that is constituted for the purposes of influencing public policy or nominating candidates to conduct elections.
Lawmakers allied to Ruto had filed new multiple amendments in their wider scheme to derail the passage of the Bill.
Majority leader Aden Duale termed the proposal mischievous and intended to sanitise the character of some dishonest politicians.
“This clause is intended to compel certain political parties to enter into a coalition agreement by February this year. This House and its committees cannot be used to sanitise the character of some leaders,” he said.
“This clause is being made for certain leaders to win the next general election. They now want to tell other people that they are electable and will not con people. When they formed NASA and Cord, they conned other leaders. Their DNA will not change even with this Bill.”
Duale’s amendment seeking to expunge a clause requiring parties forming a coalition to deposit their agreement with the Registrar of Political Parties six month to general election was defeated.
128 MPs behind voted against 104 MPs for an amendment to reduce the period from initial six months to 120 days.
There will be No sitting tomorrow and Friday as earlier gazetted. They were to sit for three days but having considered the Bill the House has adjourned till January 25.
