{"id":147004,"date":"2026-07-16T13:02:49","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T13:02:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/opposition-bid-to-save-sifuna-fails-as-kingi-names-eddy-oketch-deputy-minority-whip\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T13:02:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T13:02:49","slug":"opposition-bid-to-save-sifuna-fails-as-kingi-names-eddy-oketch-deputy-minority-whip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/opposition-bid-to-save-sifuna-fails-as-kingi-names-eddy-oketch-deputy-minority-whip\/","title":{"rendered":"Opposition bid to save Sifuna fails as Kingi names Eddy Oketch Deputy Minority Whip"},"content":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI,Kenya July 16 \u2013 An eleventh-hour attempt by the Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya Coalition to stop the removal of Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna as Senate Deputy Minority Whip has failed after Senate Speaker Amason Kingi announced leadership changes replacing him with Migori Senator Eddy Oketch.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The changes, communicated by Speaker Kingi on Thursday, came despite a formal protest by the Kalonzo Musyoka-led Azimio Coalition Council, which had urged the Speaker not to act on any resolution arising from a disputed Parliamentary Group (PG) meeting until an internal coalition dispute was resolved.<\/p>\n

In a letter dated July 16, the coalition accused a section of senators of orchestrating an irregular process to oust Sifuna, arguing that the meeting convened by Minority Whip Ledama Ole Kina violated both the coalition agreement and Senate Standing Orders.<\/p>\n

Signed by Azimio Coalition Council Chairperson Philip Kisia, the letter stated that the council had received formal complaints from member parties and senators over attempts to interfere with the coalition\u2019s leadership in the Senate.<\/p>\n

The coalition said senators were summoned to the meeting on Wednesday evening without being informed of its agenda, only to discover upon arrival that the objective was to remove Sifuna from the Deputy Minority Whip position.<\/p>\n

Azimio maintained that any changes to the coalition\u2019s parliamentary leadership can only be determined by the Coalition Council under Article 5D(3) of the coalition agreement, and further argued that ODM had already resolved earlier this year to exit the coalition, making the attempted leadership changes contentious.<\/p>\n

The coalition therefore asked Speaker Kingi to refrain from implementing any changes pending the determination of the dispute by Azimio\u2019s dispute resolution panel.<\/p>\n

However, Kingi proceeded to communicate the changes to the House, confirming Oketch as the new Deputy Minority Whip, effectively ending Sifuna\u2019s tenure in the position.<\/p>\n

The leadership shake-up follows a dramatic Parliamentary Group meeting that descended into chaos, with senators clashing over the legality of the process.<\/p>\n

Sources familiar with the meeting said tensions escalated after disagreements over the vote to remove Sifuna, culminating in pushing and shoving among lawmakers.<\/p>\n

It is alleged that Minority Whip Ledama Ole Kina injured his hand after attempting to punch Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi during the confrontation, although the claims have not been independently verified.<\/p>\n

The meeting took place just hours after a section of ODM senators held talks with President William Ruto at State House under the leadership of Siaya Senator Oburu Oginga, with sources claiming the discussions preceded the move to reorganise the Senate minority leadership.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI,Kenya July 16 \u2013 An eleventh-hour attempt by the Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya Coalition to stop the removal of Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna as Senate Deputy Minority Whip has failed after Senate Speaker Amason Kingi announced leadership changes replacing him with Migori Senator Eddy Oketch. The changes, communicated by Speaker Kingi on Thursday, came despite […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-147004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147004\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}