Marende 'blocking Namwamba removal'

Monday, 02 May 2011 00:02 BY FRANCIS MUREITHI

ACCUSED: Speaker of the National Assembly Kenneth Marende.

Speaker Kenneth Marende is facing a tough battle with a group of MPs tomorrow over the chairmanship of the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee.
Five members of the committee have accused Marende and his deputy Farah Maalim of shielding Budalang'i MP Ababu Namwamba from ouster as chairman.
They have planned new elections to replace Namwamba without involving the Speaker if the row is not resolved tomorrow. The MPs claimed Marende and Maalim as well as the Clerk’s office are playing “ping pong” with the affairs of the committee. National Assembly officers have frustrated meeting to formally remove Namwamba as the chairman.
MPs Njoroge Baiya (Githunguri) who is also the committee chair, Eugene Wamalwa (Saboti), George Nyamweya (nominated), Isaac Ruto (Chepalungu), and Mutava Musyimi (Gachoka) accused the Speaker’s office of double speak.
Speaking at Parliament Buildings, the MPs claimed that the Speaker and his deputy had frustrated a meeting of the committee and that the two demanded an assurance that in case Namwamba is removed, he be replaced by either nominated MP Millie Odhiambo or Olago Aluoch (Kisumu Town West).
Nyamweya claimed such demands were “a black mail and extortion.”  “The speaker himself and the Clerk’s office have informally disbanded this committee,” he added.
Baiya said a meeting to remove Namwamba had been frustrated for close to three months. Such a meeting is supposed to be officially convened by the deputy speaker. Once a resolution is reached and documented in minutes, it should be forwarded to the Speaker to facilitate another meeting where a new chairman is elected by a simple majority. “The office of the deputy speaker is playing ping pong with calling or not calling for a meeting,” said Baiya. The MPs claimed the work of the committee had been paralyzed and that it has been unable to scrutinize the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Bill of 2011 which is before the House. Baiya, Wamalwa, Nyamweya, Ruto, and Musyimi are allied to PNU while Namwamba, Odhiambo and Aluoch are allied to ODM.
Other members of the committee are Mohammed Abdikadir (Mandera Central) and nominated MPs Sophia Abdi Noor and Sophia Abdi Noor, all allied to PNU.