ORPP: Majority, Minority Party Decision in Parliament Rests with Speaker

The Registrar of Political Parties Anne Nderitu says the Speaker of the National Assembly is the one to determine which party constitutes the majority or minority in the National Assembly.

Speaking on Monday 3rd March 2025 at local media station, Nderitu emphasized that her office’s role is limited to providing factual data about coalition memberships.

“The determination on who is majority and minority is squarely on the doorstep of the Speaker. What we do is just provide the state of coalitions, simply telling the Speaker, ‘These are the people who are in this coalition. These other ones are in this coalition. These other ones are free members, they are not in any coalition,’” she explained.

She further stated that her office responds to periodic requests for information from the National Assembly by supplying current data on party affiliations and coalition agreements.

“We just provide data upon request under which they have requested at periodic stages. And when we provide that we leave it to the Speaker to interpret the data and make the determination because that is the work of a speaker,” she added.

Ms. Nderitu’s comments come weeks after the High Court declared that National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula violated the Constitution when he determined which party or coalition held the majority in the Assembly.