By Patricia Mollyne Mataga
National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula has been asked to quit his position as the Ford Kenya Party leader.
According to the Democratic Action Party of Kenya (DAP-K) leader Eugene Wamalwa, Wetangula’s decision to continue holding a political party’s seat undermines his statue as the country’s third in command.
In a statement on Sunday, Wamalwa said to safeguard his office, Wetangula should hand over the Ford Kenya leadership mantle.
The Cabinet Secretary was responding to a recent incident in which the National Assembly Speaker was caught at the centre of a clash between two rival groups in Trans Nzoia.
The incident happened in Trans Nzoia County on Friday.
Videos doing rounds on social media, also shared by the DAP-K Party leader show Wetangula’s bodyguard’s protecting him during the clash between his supporters and those of Trans Nzoia Governor George Natembeya.
The two met during a burial ceremony in the county at a time they have been embroiled in a supremacy battle.
But according to Wamalwa, had the former Bungoma Senator handed over the Ford Kenya party leadership, he would not find himself engaging in village politics.
“Let us also pray for @NAssemblyKE Speaker @HonWetangula to do the honourable thing and relinquish his Ford Kenya Party position and rise above petty partisan village politics that undermine his stature as a National Leader and the 3rd in command, and safeguard the dignity of his high office that require him to be an impartial Umpire and Arbiter,” Wamalwa said.
“To hold both the position of Speaker and Party Leader that force you to engage in such embarrassing political jete, is clearly untenable,” he added.
Wamalwa further condemned scenes at the burial ceremony.He said, “this culture of violence, also known in Bungoma as “Butima,”is primitive,backward and retrogressive politics that must be condemned by all Kenyans of good will.”
Earlier, Saboti MP Caleb Amisi had also condemned the incident.
In a post on his verified X handle, the youthful legislator challenged leaders to stop taking advantage of grief to advance their political agenda
.”I strongly condemn the recent incident at a funeral in Trans Nzoia. It serves as a reminder to all leaders that funerals should be respected as places for mourning, not for political agendas,” the ODM legislator said.