UNDER REVIEW

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 3 - The role of Kenya’s Parliament in resolving the 2008 post election crisis will be under review during this year’s Commonwealth parliamentary Association conference to be held here in Nairobi in September.

Speaker Kenneth Marende said on Thursday that the Kenya Parliament hopes to share its experiences with other 53 members of the association and show how legislatures can play a critical role in promoting peace and cohesion.

Mr Marende said the case study will form the discussions of one of the main workshops of the conference and aims to enrich fellow member states.

“What we want to bring out is that the subject of peace is not a preserve of the Executive but that all the arms of government are stakeholders in the peace of any nation,” he said while briefing diplomats from the commonwealth stationed in Nairobi.

The Speaker said after the bloody experience “now we know and we are wiser.”

He added: “What we learnt in 2008 is that we should never take peace for granted.”

This will be the third time the country is hosting the conference having held the first in 1954 and the 29th edition in 1983. Besides the plenary discussions and the workshops, participants will also get a chance to sample Kenya’s best tourism and key development locations. The teams will visit the Rift valley, the Mount Kenya circuit, the Coast and the Maasai Mara.

Since the meeting comes soon after the August referendum, the Speaker was keen to assure the diplomats of a peaceful and secure environment. Mr Marende said the government was determined to ensure peaceful campaigns, referendum and tranquillity after the vote.

The conference is expected to bring together over 900 delegates from former British colonies in their annual meeting under the theme “Parliament and Development in the 21st Century, Now and Beyond.”

The Chairman of the Organising Committee David Musila assured that the government had put all necessary security measures in place. Mr Musila who is also an Assistant Minister of Defence said “the government is leaving no chance in the arrangements.”

“We are liaising with the all arms of state security and the delegates will be assured of their security all along from the airport, to the hotels and to the conference venue,” he said.