House teams wasting time says Raila

Written By:KBC Reporter,    Posted: Thu, Mar 29, 2012

Parliaments’ oversight role has kept the executive in check Prime Minister Raila Odinga has faulted parliamentary committees for over engaging the Executive in needless sessions at the expense of their core legislative duties. He expressed fears that valuable time was lost during the sessions with the Ministers some of whom were later blamed for delaying to table pending bills on the floor of the house. Odinga asked the committees to refer some of their queries to specialized state agencies for response to save on time and give the Ministers space to transact executive function of the government. "Although parliament has an oversight function over the executive we need to spare the Ministers the agony of appearing for summons and pursue such issues with the bureaucrats" He said. But Deputy Speaker Farah Maalim and nominated Mp Amina Abdalla differed with the PM insisting that some issues demanded the presence of the executive members at the committees. The Premier who was speaking on Thursday when he presided over the opening session of the Kenya Legislative Development Conference at a Nairobi Hotel however commended the 10th Parliament for spearheading reforms including the promulgation of the new constitution. Odinga called on parliament to undertake a review of their working processes to conform with the radical transformation of governance from a parliamentary to a purely presidential system. "The Promulgation of the constitution has inevitably placed the great responsibility in the legislature in terms law making oversight of the executive and budge making process" He said. The Premier said other reforms expected in parliament included the review of the rules of procedures and reassessing the human resource strategy to facilitate effective delivery of services for the good of the nation. Speaking at the same forum House Speaker Kenneth Marende called on MPs to put aside their political differences and concentrate on the passage of various pending bills.