Parliament’s ‘historic’ business amid frequent battles with Executive

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By PETER OPIYO

It was a busy year for Parliament, even as it locked horns with the Executive in efforts to fight for its independence.

MPs broke for the Christmas break amid fireworks over the Executive’s nominees to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.

This might have clouded the record 32 Bills passed by the legislators as it closed the year. MPs endorsed the 32 out of the 59 Bills introduced to the House in 2011.

Among these were 25 proposed laws that concern the implementation of the Constitution, a good number of them endorsed in August to beat the stipulated Constitutional deadline.

Speaker Kenneth Marende terms this year historic because MP passed 25 constitutional implementation Bills as required under the provisions of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution. [PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD]

National Assembly Speaker Kenneth Marende described the year as historic, as Parliament had to sit sometimes up to midnight to approve the Bills.

"Indeed, we have had a historic year that has seen MPs debate and pass a total of 25 Constitutional implementation Bills as required under the provisions of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution," says Marende.

About 109 Motions were also filed as well as 1,035 questions, in the year that saw Parliament resume early and break for Christmas later than has been the tradition.

As it executed its legislative duties the House squared it out with the Executive on the EACC nominees. Though the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee recommended that the House reject the names of Mumo Matemu as Chairman and Jane Onsongo and Irene Keino as commissioners, MPs opposed the report on a slim margin of 50-49 votes.

Unconstitutional nominations

But Marende ruled that the rejection of the report does not mean that the nominees were approved.

He referred to the Constitution, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission Act and the Public Appointments (Parliamentary Approval) Act to argue that approval by Parliament must be ‘express.’

In essence the Government is now expected to come up with a Motion seeking their approval but MPs, led by Mandera Central legislator Mohammed Abdikadir, have vowed to reject the names again.

In February there was uproar when Parliament vehemently rejected the nominees to the positions of Chief Justice, Director of Public Prosecutions and Attorney General.

President Kibaki had nominated Alnashir Visram, Kioko Kilukumi and Githu Muigai, respectively.

The MPs, the civil society and even then AG Amos Wako had termed the nominations unconstitutional, pointing out that the Prime Minister was not consulted and that the right procedure was not followed.

The ruling by Marende and the High Court spoke the same view, but the protest by PNU-allied MPs is what stole the show. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Uhuru Kenyatta banged the table in full glare of the cameras at a Press conference in Parliament as he protested the Speaker’s ruling.

Again in June Uhuru would face the wrath of MPs, particularly from the Budget Committee, when he failed to present the budget estimates before the House as expected by the Constitution. The charter requires him to do so at least two months before the end of the financial year.

The MPs wanted him reprimanded by Marende for flouting the Constitution and that he be prevented from reading the Budget on June 8. But Marende came to his rescue, pointing out that the country was still in transition and the minister should be allowed to read the budget.

Later MPs expressed their disappointment in August with Marende when he ruled that public views onthe Budget could not be factored in by the Treasury in making adjustments. The Budget committee had sought that its recommendations that were a product of public hearings, as provided for in Article 221 of the Constitution, be adopted.

It was angry at the Treasury’s move to interfere with the Committee’s allocations for the employment of 28,000 teachers and stocking of the Strategic Grain Reserves.

And in November, MPs temporarily frustrated efforts by the Executive to amend the Constitution to push the elections date to December, outline the two-third gender formula and address the creation of 80 new constituencies.

MPs argued the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2011 lumped the three issues together to trap them in supporting the Bill and that it was published without public participation. Consequently, they wanted Marende to block its introduction in the House.

Marende, however, ruled that the MPs still have a chance to determine the fate of the Bill when it comes up for debate and that public participation can be conducted once the Bill has been tabled.

His ruling allowed the introduction of the Bill at the first reading. It is expected that debate begins on it in late February, next year.

Internal feuds

Parliament also had its internal feuds when leadership wrangles in the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee stalled its operations. The PNU wing of the 11-member committee was unhappy with the chairmanship of Budalang’i MP Ababu Namwamba and had engineered a vote-of-no-confidence against him.

But ODM withdrew its membership from the committee, frustrating its business for nine months.

The matter was, however, addressed in November when the members finally agreed to bury the hatchet. In the time it was in disarray, Marende directed that its work be handled by the Parliamentary Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee.