Winnie Odinga's EALA Role In Danger Over Missing Ruto Meeting

Ruto had met the legislators on Monday, December 5 following their election into the regional assembly last month

Marvin Chege Marvin Chege
Dec 7, 2022 - 12:55 Updated: Dec 7, 2022 - 12:57
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Winnie Odinga's EALA Role In Danger Over Missing Ruto Meeting
Raila Odinga's daughter, Winnie Odinga. /NAIROBI NEWS

Winnie Odinga might be summoned to Parliament to explain why she missed attending a meeting by President William Ruto and elected legislators of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA).

Ruto had met the legislators on Monday, December 5 following their election into the regional assembly last month, but according to photos shared by State House on social media, Winnie was missing from the frame.

Addressing the media on Wednesday, December 7, Manyatta Member of Parliament, Gitonga Mukunji revealed that he plans to recall Raila Odinga's last-born daughter's election to EALA for not appearing in an official EALA function.

A photo of President Ruto with the newly elected East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) MPs at State House Nairobi on Monday, December 5, 2022. /TWITTER.STATE HOUSE KENYA

“We are going to call Winnie Odinga in the National Assembly to explain why she did not appear in serious meetings such as the one called by the President and which was attended by all members including the son of Kalonzo Musyoka,” said Mukunji.

Kennedy Kalonzo, whose father's Wiper Party is affiliated with the Azimio coalition, was also in attendance at the meeting with Winnie missing.

“All members of EALA yesterday went and met the President and the CS in charge of the East African region and they were there to get the mandate of our standing as a country on the issues of the East African Community,” said Mukunji.

“To our shock, the young madam was not there and I want to say that it’s a shame that we still carry ourselves with the boundaries that we are not supposed to carry ourselves. We ended the elections on 9th August. There’s no way we can go back.”

Suna Member of Parliament (MP) Junet Mohamed defended Winnie's absence on Twitter by revealing that she was busy in preparations for Raila's Azimio la Umoja engagement rallies.

“She is preparing for the Kamkunji meeting,” wrote Junet to which Mukunji responded; “If she was preparing for ‘maandamano’…then we should have her in ‘maandamano’ and put another member to go represent us in EALA.”

This is despite her later explaining that the meeting came to her on short notice as she had other engagements.

According to EALA regulations, a seat for a member can be declared vacant if relevant authorities among member states such as Parliament communicate the same.

"Where the competent authorities of a partner state notify the clerk of appointments to an office incompatible with the office of Member of the Assembly, upon receipt of written confirmation from such member, the Speaker shall inform the Assembly which shall establish that there is a vacancy," read the EALA rules.

Winnie was elected alongside Kennedy Kalonzo, Kanini Kega and Suleiman Shahbal of the Azimio coalition and Hassan Omar, Zipporah Kering, David Ole Sankok, Mwangi Godfrey Maina and Falhadha Iman of the Kenya Kwanza coalition.

The nine members will be sworn in on Wednesday, December 21, 2022.

A collage of elected EALA MPs Winnie Odinga, David Ole Sankok and Kennedy Kalonzo. /FILE

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