The Speaker of the National Assembly Moses Wetangula has challenged a contempt of court case filed in court seeking to cite him for contempt for allegedly disobeying court orders on who the majority party is in parliament.
He argues that the case violates the Constitution and the Parliamentary Powers and Privileges Act of 2017.
He claims that he was never served with any court order before the contempt proceedings were initiated, asserting that no decree was extracted or served to justify the proceedings.
Wetangula further claims that no court order required him to take or refrain from any action that could be enforced through contempt proceedings.
The National Assembly, through lawyer Sandra Nganyi, argues that the court lacks jurisdiction to hear and determine the said application.
Nganyi says Wetangula enjoys parliamentary immunity from contempt proceedings and that such proceedings cannot be issued against him in his individual capacity for actions carried out in the exercise of his official functions, as outlined under Article 117 of the Constitution and Section 12 of the Parliamentary Powers and Privileges Act, 2017.
They further argue that the application invites the court to review or reconsider its judgment delivered on February 7, 2025, which rendered the court functus officio.
Justice Jairus Ngaa, Lawrence Mugambi, and John Chigiti have directed the parties to appear on July 17 for the highlighting of submissions.
In the case, a group of activists, led by Kenneth Njagi have filed an application before the Milimani law court seeking to find Wetang’ula guilty of contempt of court and to jail him for allegedly disregard the court verdict on the majority party leadership in the House.
