Photo/FILE Kenneth Marende is sworn in as Speaker of the 10th Parliament on January 15, 2008.
By ALPHONCE SHIUNDU ashiundu@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Tuesday, December 27 2011 at 22:30
Posted Tuesday, December 27 2011 at 22:30
Any Kenyan eyeing the Speaker’s seat come 2013 will need the backing of at least 50 MPs just to get their names on the ballot paper, and not two lawmakers as has been the case.
They would then have to woo at least 233 MPs to vote for them — at least two-thirds of all MPs in the House — to succeed current Speaker Kenneth Marende at the helm of Parliament.
These are some of the key changes that have been made to the House rules as the National Assembly seeks to conform to the 16-month-old Constitution.
In a draft of the Standing Orders seen by theNation, there is a radical departure of an earlier tradition whereby the election of the Speaker preceded the swearing-in of MPs — with a fresh provision for MPs to be sworn in first, and then go ahead to pick their new Speaker.
Perhaps noting that there will be 350 MPs in the House, the team reviewing the House rules has added a provision for MPs to take their oaths “collectively” for the “convenience of the House”.
This is likely to save time, noting that the 10th Parliament sat until 2am, as all the 222 MPs took their oaths on January 15, 2008.
The new rules have also scrapped the position of the Leader of Government Business.
The position currently being held by Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka will be taken up by the Leader of Majority Party — the person at the helm of the party with the largest number of MPs in the House.
Together with the Leader of Minority Party in the House — the person at the head of the party or coalition of parties with the second largest number of MPs — the Leader of Majority Party will consult with the Speaker in all crucial matters concerning the welfare of Parliament.
Visiting dignitaries
For instance, the trio will have the power to invite “visiting dignitaries” like foreign heads of states to address Parliament for an hour. In such cases, MPs will be forced to listen “in silence” and interruptions or debate on such speeches will be forbidden.
To bring predictability to the calendar of Parliament, the drafters have also proposed that the regular sessions of Parliament, every year, should begin on the “second Tuesday of March”.
But even with this, there is a rider that the House can fix another date, as long as its break does not exceed three months.
The Question Time — the period allotted to MPs to raise questions with the Executive on problems in their constituencies at the beginning of every session — has also been scrapped. This is mainly because Cabinet Secretaries (ministers) will not sit in the House as is the case currently. The bulk of the questions will be addressed within House committees.
However, even after kicking out the Cabinet secretaries from Parliament, the drafters under the Legal Office of Parliament has introduced a “Statement Hour” every Thursday at 3pm, within which specific Cabinet secretaries will be summoned to address the House on “specific issues” within their dockets.
Committee membership
The membership to House committees has also been expanded from the current range of between five and 11 MPs to a new range of between nine and 19MPs.
The crucial House Business Committee will be chaired by the Leader of the Majority Party.
Its membership has also been increased from between 15 and 21 MPs to a new range of between 19 and 25 MPs.
The political parties in the House will send their members to this powerful team that sets the House agenda, and all the party whips are automatic members.
The quorum for the House has also been raised from 30 MPs to 50 MPs as stipulated in the Constitution. For committees, the quorum has been raised from three to seven MPs.
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