Broad-based gov’t is illegal, unconstitutional, Karua says

Narc Kenya party leader Martha Karua has termed broad-based government formation as illegal and unconstitutional. She accused Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party leader Raila Odinga for double standard in the way he nominated his party members to the cabinet.

Karua said that Raila took advantage of Gen Z protests to benefit himself at the time the country is facing serious economic challenges. According to her the young people took to the streets to demand transparency and accountability from the government but Raila’s move to join Kenya Kwanza regime through the “backdoor’ is unconstitutional.

“Gen Z have been asking for transparency and accountability, these appointments have lowered the bar because they seek to violate the design of the Constitution, they also seek to lower the bar on accountability,” Karua said in an interview at Citizen Tv.

The former Raila running mate termed broad-based government as a come-we-stay marriage which is illegal. “This (broad-based government) is a come-we-stay marriage, it is illegal, it is unconstitutional and it will lead to unconstitutionality in the conduct of the business of Parliament,” she said.

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Last month president William Ruto nominated four member of ODM into his cabinet, a move that angered Azimio co-principles that saw Raila’s decision as selfish move. Karua castigated Raila for pretense and behind their backs he had entered into a pact with Ruto.

While Orange party secretary general Edwin Sifuna has claimed that the party members who joined Ruto’s government were acting alone, Karua disputed it saying it was a plot to hoodwink the public. She further said that ODM should cease being an opposition party stating that it has officially joined the government which will compromised their oversight role.

“You can imagine an ODM person questioning CSs who were his party bosses just a minute ago. They may have relinquished their party posts but their relationship is of a senior person and a junior person within the party. Even if they have left, that effect is there. ODM loses that moral right to hold to account or be a watchdog to CSs from their own party. That should be held by someone else,” she said.