Key House team ‘disbanded’ amid party and coalition rows

MP Ababu Namwamba (L) and Chepalungu MP Isaac Ruto. Photo/FILE 

By ALPHONCE SHIUNDU ashiundu@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Wednesday, August 17  2011 at  22:30

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The troubled Parliamentary Legal Affairs committee on Wednesday appeared to have been disbanded because it is “incompatible”.

A powerful actor in the implementation of the Constitution, the committee has been crippled by rivalries within the Orange party and between the coalition partners. (Read: Crucial House team fails to elect new chair)

MPs belonging to a rebel ODM faction voted with the Party of National Unity, marginalising their own party. ODM has withdrawn its members from the team, whose responsibilities have been transferred to the Committee on the Implementation of the Constitution.

Government Whip Jakoyo Midiwo (ODM) said the committee will be reconstituted next week, because “it cannot meaningfully execute its mandate” as it currently exists.

But, if the disagreements among MPs on Wednesday are anything to go by, dissolving the committee does not necessarily imply that the problems are over.

And deputy Speaker Farah Maalim acknowledged as much, saying, the push and pull by parties involved “is a matter that will not die soon”.
He declined to notify the House of the decision to disband the committee and asked MPs to “treat it as rumours”.

Deputy Leader of Government Business Amos Kimunya, who sits in the House Business Committee, referred the matter to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Kenneth Marende.

The vice-chairman of the Legal Affairs committee, Mr Njoroge Baiya (Githunguri, PNU), said his team had not been notified of the dissolution.

He disclosed that he was asked to cancel a meeting this morning to elect a chairman to replace Mr Ababu Namwamba (Budalang’i, ODM).

To complicate issues, two ODM lawmakers, Mr Namwamba and Mr Olago Aluoch (Kisumu Town West, ODM), have written to the Clerk of the National Assembly, saying, they were not members of the beleaguered committee.

Mr Namwamba, in a letter copied to the ODM Whip and the Speaker, said he won’t attend any meetings of the committee whose members want him ejected.

“This is to remind you that I ceased being a member of the defunct Justice and Legal Affairs Committee months ago and, accordingly, please exclude my name from being associated with any future business in respect of the same,” he said.

Mr Aluoch said his party had asked him to quit the committee and that unless there’s an attempt to sort out the wrangles, then he’ll not be party to its meetings.

“I do appreciate the gravity and urgency of the issues at stake but, in my humble view, unless these issues are clarified, the meeting will not achieve its intended purpose,” he said.

Another member of the House Business Committee said fresh names are expected on Tuesday evening — when the committee sits next — before they are presented to the House for adoption.

Standing orders

Legal Affairs committee member Isaac Ruto (Chepalungu, ODM), accused the House Business Committee of “acting outside the House rules”, arguing that the Standing Orders did not have a provision for dissolution of House Committees.

“You cannot invoke powers that you don’t have. If you don’t like the configuration of the committee, you don’t dissolve it just based on whims,” he said.

“There are many committees that have elected new chairs. We’re not unique. You can’t disband a committee just because members have rejected their chair.”

His efforts to get the Deputy Speaker to explain the decision of the House Business Committee failed after Mr Maalim termed it a “rumour”.