Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna has not minced words in responding to National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula’s recent remarks regarding the expulsion of five ODM MPs.
Wetang’ula had accused the ODM party of sabotaging democracy, asserting that all elected leaders have the right to work with the government of the day to deliver services.
âWe want to tell all elected leaders that the door to work with government for development is open as long as it is done in a Constitutional manner. The same frustrations meted to those leaders also happened to us,â he said.
In a swift and assertive rejoinder, Sifuna called on Wetang’ula to remain focused on his role as the Speaker of the National Assembly.
âIf Wetangâula feels constrained to speak, we challenge him to lay down the instruments and garb of the office of the Speaker and meet us on the political platform like any other politician, so that we can take on him as we have effectively done in the past,â Sifuna said.
Furthermore, Sifuna extended an invitation to Wetang’ula to advise his “rebel friends” to switch allegiance, even to his own Ford Kenya party. This would, in his view, give the people a second opportunity at the ballot to choose representatives who align with the principles and values of the ODM party.
âWetangâula is at liberty to advise his rebel friends to cross the floor, even to his own Ford Kenya party, so that the people can have a second chance at the ballot to elect those who still hold the ideals of ODM to heart.â
At the same time, the Senator accused the Speaker of pointing fingers at the ODM party yet his own Ford Kenya outfit has questionable issues because of his leadership.
“He runs the party like an echo chamber of a fiefdom where dissent is not allowed and his word is law; hardly the image of democracy he preaches to us,â Sifuna said.
He emphasized that, in his position, Wetang’ula should act as a neutral arbiter on matters affecting political parties rather than taking a partisan stance.
