Parliament buildings, Nairobi. Parliament resumes sitting on Tuesday. File | NATION
By BERNARD NAMUNANE bnamunane@ke.nationmedia.com AND CAROLINE WAFULA cwafula@ke.nationmedia.comPosted Monday, January 17 2011 at 21:00
Parliament resumes sitting on Tuesday as the race to beat deadlines in the implementation of the new Constitution begins in earnest.
Top of the agenda for the MPs is to debate and enact laws to clean up the Judiciary and the Police Force.
It emerged that President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga are to initiate the hiring of a new Chief Justice by agreeing on a shortlist of names to be taken to Parliament for approval.
Reforms in the Judiciary will set the ball rolling for the full implementation of the new Constitution.
Debate on the Judicial Service Commission is slotted as the main business of the day.
On Monday, Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Mutula Kilonzo asked MPs to cast aside their political differences and speedily pass the Bills and approve names of nominees to usher in a new dispensation.
“The hour of reckoning has come and this is when the real work starts.
“I hope they will quickly pass the Bills on the Judiciary and start approving the names of the new appointees. The country is under stress because we need a new Chief Justice in the next 30 days,” he told the Nation.
Just like last year when the urgency to pass Bills on the establishment of a local tribunal resulted in the MPs being recalled from a three-month Christmas break, the lawmakers have resumed sittings early to enact laws to implement the new Constitution.
The JSC Bill, which was published last year, puts in place provisions of judicial services and the way the Judiciary will be run.
It also deals with the appointment of members of the JSC, appointment and disciplining of judges and establishment of the Judicial Fund.
However, the successive Bills to be debated will be agreed on today by the House Business Committee, chaired by Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka.
Whatever decision the HBC reaches, Mr Kilonzo said the Vetting of Judges and Magistrates Bill, which was also published last year, should be second in line.
Enormous stress
“Currently, the Judiciary is undergoing enormous stress,” the VP said. The two Bills are among the more than 49 legislations which MPs are required to pass.
Even though the JSC has the task of initiating the process of recruiting the CJ, sources have said the task has been left to the President in consultation with the PM.
It is understood that two officials from the Office of the President and the PM had started head-hunting for the next CJ including from member states of the Commonwealth.
Even as the lobbying for the post that is being held by Justice Evan Gicheru intensified, there are high chances that the next holder of the office may be a foreigner.
JSC member Ahmednasir Abdullahi said they were not in a position to initiate recruitment of a new CJ since Justice Gicheru is their chairman.
“We are in a state of a limbo because the chairman of the JSC is the CJ who is supposed to vacate office. We don’t know whether he wants to retire or to sit through the whole process. Until we get a new CJ, we will not be fully operational,” Mr Abdullahi said.
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