House forwards four Bills to legal committee

Written By:Nelly Moraa,    Posted: Wed, Jul 20, 2011

Key among the four Bills is the Political Parties' Bill 2011which will see the repeal and replacement of the Political Parties' Act 2007 Four key Bills on Constitution implementation were presented before Parliament on Wednesday. This is after the House reduced the publication period from 14 days to 5 days so as to allow their formal introduction. The Political Parties Bill, the Commission on Administrative Justice Bill, the Kenya National Human Rights commission Bill and the National Gender and Equality Commission Bill are now before the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee, who will scrutinize them before they are presented for debate in Parliament. Enactment of the Political Parties' Bill 2011 will see the repeal and replacement of the Political Parties' Act 2007. It will also see the appointment of registrar who will be autonomous and enjoy security of tenure. The Bill also seeks to streamline management and funding of political parties by setting out guidelines for the formation of coalitions and mergers by political parties. In a bid to stem political party indiscipline, the Bill regulates the activities of members of a political party as well as the manner in which they conduct the affairs of the political party. Political parties will also be required to declare their assets and liabilities 90 days before a general election and will be entitled to funding from the political parties fund established under the envisaged Act. Coalition agreements according to the proposed law shall be deposited with the registrar at least 3months before the election. The political parties bills also provides that one may only be expelled from a political party if he or she has infringed the constitution or rules of the party and after being accorded a fair hearing in line with the internal party disputes resolution mechanism among other provisions. The other three Bills seek to restructure the Kenya National Human Rights and Equality Commission to three other organs by allowing the establishment of a National Gender and Equality Commission, the Kenya National Human Rights Commission and the Commission on Administrative of Justice or the office of the Ombudsman that will handle public complaints as provided in the constitution. However even as they fast tracked debate on the bills, a section of MPs expressed reservations over drafting of the Kenya National Human Rights Commission Bill. They claimed it is unconstitutional for the government to establish parallel commissions in the name of the National Gender and Equality Commission, The Commission on Administrative Justice and the National Gender and Equality Commission. Kimilili MP Dr. Eseli Simiyu said the three commissions are not provided for as separate entities but should be under an expanded Kenya National Human Rights and Equality Commission. Speaker Marende ruled that the issues will be addressed once the bills come up for debate as the concern raised was premature.