National Assembly Speaker Kenneth Marende has directed a meeting to resolve the wrangles in the crucial Justice and Legal Affairs Committee be convened Thursday May 3,2011. FILE
By NJERI RUGENE
Posted Tuesday, May 3 2011 at 18:02
Posted Tuesday, May 3 2011 at 18:02
House Speaker Kenneth Marende has directed a meeting to resolve the wrangles in the crucial Justice and Legal Affairs Committee be convened Thursday.
Mr Marende also directed that resolutions of the meeting be forwarded to Parliament's Liaison Committee whose report will be in turn presented to the House.
The Speaker asked National Assembly Clerk Mr Patrick Gichohi to facilitate the Thursday meeting to enable the committee resolve the leadership row that has derailed its work.
Eight of the 11-member team want to eject their chairman Ababu Namwamba from the position, saying they do not have confidence in him.
Mr Marende sought to absolve his office from accusations by the aggrieved MPs that he was to blame for the stalled process of dealing with the intended no confidence vote in the Budalang'i MP.
The controversy has dogged the committee since February 21, 2011 when the eight members wrote to the Speaker expressing desire to pass a vote of no confidence against Mr Namwamba in accordance with standing order number 175.
The MPs, including vice chairman Mr Njoroge Baiya accuse Mr Namwamba of mismanaging the committee and undermining integrity of some of the members.
The Speaker said he had received another letter dated March 16, 2011 from some of the MPs who signed the earlier one demanding that a meeting be convened to pass a resolution against their chairman.
He said the clerk convened a meeting on March 29, 2011 and which was chaired by the deputy speaker but ended without any resolution. A further meeting of the committee aborted last Thursday without any conclusive resolution either, the Speaker said.
Marende directed that all committee members, Mr Namwamba, his deputy Njoroge Baiya, MPs Millie Odhiambo, Isaac Ruto, Olago Alouch, Amina Abdalla, Sofia Abdi, Eugene Wamalwa, Mutava Musyimi and George Nyamwaya be present at the closed door
meeting to resolve their differences.
“I direct that the resolution of this meeting be reported to the Liaison Committee,” he said.
The deputy Speaker Farah Maalim chairs this committee composed of all chairman of House committees.
The committee has been in paralysis since February when it was divided over the appointment by President Kibaki of four key judicial officers that were latter withdrawn.
The eight members are from Party of National Unity and two perceived to be ODM rebels allied Eldoret North MP William Ruto expressed displeasure with the manner in which Namwamba handled the issue taking the view that the Presidential appointment was unconstitutional.
He was supported by Millie Odhiambo and Olago Aluoch. The other members led by vice chairman Njoroge Baiya sided with the President on the appointments.
Mutito MP Kiema Kilionzo (ODM-K) rose immediately after the communication and invited the speaker to make a ruling on what he termed as “worrying trend by media houses which have taken the liberty to create an impression that there is conflict in the office of the Speaker in interfering with the business of committees and the House thereby creating anxiety and animosity among Kenyans.”
In his response, the Speaker said whereas his communications are not subject to debate, Mr Kilonzo had raised issues of pertinent concern.
He said the media cannot ran Parliament or its committees saying as far as it is concerned, the press is a stranger to the House.
“I want the media to respect this and report the proceedings of Parliament and its committees accurately and factually. Stay within the parameters of what is public interest and constitutionally allowable to inform the public correctly,” he charged.
Mr Marende said he had no interest whatsoever in the committee or House affairs stating that as the National Assembly Speaker, he has no other political affiliation of constituency other than that of Kenya.
“I have no partisan interest. I ceased to be a member of any party when I assumed office as Speaker. Neither do I have any interest to any particular member of this House other than as a colleague since I am an ex-officio member of this House. The fact that Namwamba comes a few kilometres from my home does not mean that I have any particular interest,” said Marende.
He challenged the media to adhere to its internal controls to manage itself and demonstrate the same practically without rhetoric.
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