<a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/us-news/2021/10/14/biden-to-discuss-transparency-with-kenya-president-kenyatta/" target="_blank">Kenya's</a> Parliament session on Wednesday was suspended after MPs began throwing punches during a debate on a bill to regulate political parties for next year's election. At least two MPs came to blows on the Parliament floor, local media showed. One MP, Bernard Koros, was injured and blood ran down his face, while another was expelled from Parliament by the speaker. “I cannot accept to be injured in the national house like this Mr Speaker,” said Mr Koros, a supporter of Deputy President William Ruto. The fighting broke out after hours of heated debate over the bill, which contains amendments to laws governing political parties and the registration of coalition groups for elections. The legislation would allow a coalition of parties to field a candidate in the poll, a departure from the current law that requires a candidate to belong to a party or be independent to contest a seat. Opponents of the proposals argue that President<a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/opinion/comment/2021/10/06/pandora-papers-is-a-more-equal-world-still-possible/" target="_blank"> Uhuru Kenyatta </a>and his erstwhile rival Raila Odinga will use them to build a coalition in time for vote on August 9. The session degenerated into a shouting match, in which television footage showed MPs crowding on to the floor of the chamber. “Mr Speaker, we have been attacked in this house by the master of violence in this house,” Benard Koros, sporting a bloodied eye, said in comments broadcast on parliament's television channel. “Now I can't see, I can't vote.” Although Mr Odinga is ostensibly opposition leader, he and Mr Kenyatta declared a truce in 2018 after deadly post-election clashes the year before. The pact led to speculation that Mr Odinga, a veteran politician who has made four unsuccessful attempts to win the presidency, would succeed Mr Kenyatta. The two had sought to expand the executive through proposed constitutional changes that could have allowed Mr Kenyatta – who is in his second term and cannot run for the presidency again – to stay in power as a prime minister. Kenya's highest court ruled against those amendments in August but the alliance has endured, with Mr Odinga often attending official government functions with Mr Kenyatta.
