Swearing in may take two days, clerk says

By Geoffrey Mosoku

Nairobi, Kenya: The swearing in of 349 legislators and the election of the Speaker and his deputy is turning out to be a nightmare for Parliament.

Though it is a simple exercise of taking oath of office, Kenyans may have to be glued to their TV sets for a record two days or 24 hours nonstop to watch their MPs transact the first business of the House.

If MPs will be sworn individually, each is expected to take at least two minutes to recite the oath before appending his/her signature on the oath of affirmation paper.

The 349 MPs against 2 minutes is equal to 698 minutes; which when divided (by 60) into hours is equal to 11.6 hours.

The election of the Speaker is estimated to take at least three hours as the legislators will vote manually.

If no candidate garners mandatory two-thirds majority (233), then the vote goes to a second round pitting the first two candidates against each other, with another three hours required. This will total six hours.

The election of the deputy Speaker may also end up consuming another six hours if it ends up in a second round.  This is compounded as the MPs will vote manually.

This may turn out to be a nightmare, as it may take almost 24 hours, meaning MPs will be in the House until Friday evening.

Forms of oath

Friday will again be a public holiday as it falls on the Easter weekend. However, the time may be shortened if MPs resolve to take a group vow after signing the forms of oath individually.

Yesterday, National Assembly Clerk Justin Bundi, said they were prepared to work round-the-clock, adding that a precedent has been set where the House extends its sitting past midnight.

Bundi cited the 2008 swearing in and election of Kenneth Marende as Speaker and Farah Maalim as his deputy, having lasted up to 2am.

“We will work until the work is complete even if it extends to a public holiday (Friday). Even today is a weekend but I am in the office to receive applications for speaker,” he said.

The clerk, however, said the time may be shortened if MPs accept his proposal to be sworn in in batches as opposed to individually. If the legislators take this route, the clerk will distribute the forms of oath, and they are called in batches of 20 or 50 to take the group vow.