Already, Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s wing of the Grand Coalition is threatening to withdraw from all committees of the House to protest against Party of National Unity’s plot to remove Budalang’i MP Ababu Namwamba as chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs.
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| President Mwai Kibaki: The power struggle within House Justice Committee is deepening and Raila allies want the President in it. |
ODM hinted that what was initially an internal committee falling out was receiving wider interpretation yesterday when it blamed the current problem on Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka, who is from the President’s PNU wing. The party also sustained last week’s argument that the solution for the new standoff lies in the National Accord. Because the President and Raila signed the Accord, paving the way for the power-sharing deal between PNU-ODM in 2008, this was in effect declaration Kibaki and Raila can only resolve it through a negotiated process.
The House committee led by the embattled ODM legislator is instrumental in the implementation agenda as it is the one that vets the relevant Bills required to enforce all aspects of the Constitution before they come to the House for debate and possible passage or adoption.
ODM appeared to bait Kibaki into the standoff as EU joined calls on Government to get its act together to succeed in the implementation process and completion of reforms. EU Head of Mission Lodewijk Briet said the implementation process should be fast-tracked, as the reforms were crucial ahead of General Election in 2012.
Even though Kibaki has not publicly commented on the issue, Raila has led his allies in an offensive against their PNU allies and shown they would not give up leadership of the committee without a fight.
ODM ready for talks
Last week, the PM even said his party was ready for elections over the dispute and said it were not ready to cede any ground. Yesterday, Raila’s allies appeared intent on drawing in the president into the controversy when they said the coalition government was facing a crisis and provisions in the National Accord should be used to resolve it.
Gwassi MP John Mbadi and his Rarieda counterpart Nicholas Gumbo argued the National Accord should be invoked to resolve the dispute even as they agreed ODM was ready for talks with PNU.
Following the new disagreement, Raila’s allies have fronted arguments that even Parliamentary Committees should operate on the basis of the National Accord, which lays down the rules of engagement between the two principals of Grand Coalition Government. The Accord, however, does not say how Parliamentary Committees should operate.
The two MPs, who are close to Raila, claimed the VP was working against the interests of ODM and "implementation of Constitution".
"The House Business Committee is chaired by Kalonzo and is now interfering with operations of the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee," argued Mbadi.
But in a quick rejoinder ODM-K Nominated MP Mohamed Affey said: "ODM and its leadership must stop the habit of blaming all their problems on the VP. He did not encourage or force them to withdraw their membership from the committee. So how is he responsible? In any case ODM-K does not have members in it."
Mbadi and Gumbo claimed ODM had been "too nice" to PNU in Parliament and warned they were in a position to take over the leadership of all Parliamentary Committees because "they were the majority".
ODM seems to have been bitter with Namwamba’s ouster because committee members reportedly planned to replace him with Chepalungu’s Isaac Ruto, a close ally of Eldoret North MP William Ruto. Mbadi claimed PNU had rejected ODM proposal to replace Namwamba with Kisumu Town West’s Olago Aluoch.
"PNU insists it must be Ruto," said the Gwassi MP who accused PNU of wanting "everything their way" Mbadi claimed Namwamba was being victimised over his stand on (Kibaki’s) nomination and added the president’s party wants to reclaim the committee’s leadership it lost late last year after "realising it is a crucial committee."
As the blame game intensified over delay in implementing the new laws, Commission for Implementation of the Constitution said it would not be party to the wrangles. CIC Chairman Mr Charles Nyachae said there was a chain in terms of the process on how the new laws are to be generated and therefore every concerned party must take responsibility for their actions.
Blame where due
He said whereas there was concern over deadlines, CIC had undertaken its mandate and had released all the required Bills to operationalise the Constitution to the Attorney General for publication. "If there are no Bills in Parliament for debate then the blame must be placed where it is due and not CIC," he added.
Nyachae explained this as he released a new timeline for implementation of the Constitution.
At the weekend, Lands Minister James Orengo was quoted saying implementation of the Constitution would succeed only if Raila becomes President. Others were quoted saying those who opposed the passage of the new Constitution in last year’s referendum cannot be trusted with any role in its implementation.
The dispute has also not spared the Speaker who was accused by some members of the committee of shielding Namwamba from those MPs seeking his ouster, which ODM has persistently tried to block.
More withdrawals
A few hours before the committee was supposed to meet to decide his fate, ODM Secretary-General Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o announced Namwamba’s party was withdrawing from the committee. It, however, met as per the direction of the Speaker and passed a vote of no confidence on Namwamba.
Subsequently, ODM threatened to withdraw from all Parliamentary committees if PNU MPs do not change their stand on Namwamba.
As the accusations and counteraccusations fly, implementation of the Constitution is falling behind schedule, which is what alarmed the EU. Briet argued the process has not proceeded with the required pace and more needed to be done to get it right. He called for an end to the blame game over the implementation saying priority should be given to electoral, judicial and police reforms.
"We have a strong interest in the implementation and are concerned to see it’s not going as fast as necessary," the EU Head of Mission said.
He was speaking in Nakuru when he led four ambassadors from the EU on a tour of various projects supported by their countries in Nakuru, Rongai and Ol Joro-orok.
— Additional reports by Karanja Njoroge and Linah Benyawa
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