House team summons Wako over Bills delay

Mandera Central MP Mohammed Abdikadir. Photo/FILE

By OLIVER MATHENGE omathenge@ke.nationmedia.com and JOHN NGIRACHU jngirachu@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Tuesday, April 19 2011 at 22:00

In Summary

• House may ask its legal teams to prepare the proposed laws as a back-up plan

Parliament may have to ask its legal teams to prepare Bills meant for the implementation of the Constitution if delays continue to be experienced.

Constitution Implementation Oversight Committee (CIOC) chairman Abdikadir Mohammed on Tuesday said that Parliament would use this as a back-up plan to enable it to beat the Constitution deadlines.

The Bills would then be brought before the House as private members’ motions and fast-tracked because the implementation was already four weeks behind schedule.

Mr Mohammed said that his committee had summoned Attorney-General Amos Wako, head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura and ministers whose ministries are still holding onto Bills for a meeting on Thursday.

“We must get commitments on actual timelines from the Executive as there are some laws that are to be enacted in two years as per the Constitution but they are needed now. The legislation timeline is being blocked by bureaucracy in the Executive,” he said.

The CIOC expects a detailed timetable from the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution, the AG and the Kenya Law Reform Commission with deadlines on the new laws.

“So many of the Bills are in their conclusive stages but there is poor management of the process. The problem lies with the bureaucratic backlog in the Executive and the AG’s office has failed in coordinating the ministries,” Mr Mohammed said.

Justice minister Mutula Kilonzo on Tuesday told the Nation that the delay in taking the Bills to Parliament was due to the “bureaucracy” in their preparation and the shuffling between the bodies involved.

He said the troubled Justice and Legal Affairs Committee as well as the Constitution Implementation Oversight Committee could also be culpable for failing to respond whenever he writes to them.