Sunday, June 9, 2013

MPs in takeover bid for AG’s office

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Parliament in session. The choice of the AG’s chambers as a possible address for the members of Parliament who have no offices is because of its “proximity to Parliament”.
Parliament in session. The choice of the AG’s chambers as a possible address for the members of Parliament who have no offices is because of its “proximity to Parliament”.   NATION MEDIA GROUP
By ALPHONCE SHIUNDU ashiundu@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Sunday, June 9  2013 at  15:32
IN SUMMARY
  • The choice of the AG’s chambers as a possible address for the members of Parliament who have no offices is because of its “proximity to Parliament”.
Members of the National Assembly plan to occupy the Attorney General’s office as they wait for the construction of their state-of-the-art office block, which will be put up next to County Hall.
The move was arrived at when Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury, Mr Henry Rotich, met the Budget and Appropriations Committee of the National Assembly in a closed-door meeting at Boma Hotel in Nairobi’s South C.
The choice of the AG’s chambers as a possible address for the members of Parliament who have no offices is because of its “proximity to Parliament”.
Though the meeting last Wednesday took a full four hours, there’s no agreement in the minutes of the meeting about the dates or times when the MPs should move to Sheria House, or what the alternative office for the state lawyers will be.
The search for accommodation of the expanded National Assembly of 349 members, and the 67 senators; plus their respective Speakers has seen the Parliamentary Service Commission get the government’s permission to occupy the Kenyatta International Conference Centre and Protection House.
These two new addresses just add to the offices in Harambee Sacco Plaza and Continental House.
The PSC is also remodelling County Hall and the main parliament buildings to ensure that there’s a modern meeting room for the Senate, offices for the senior staff and key political leaders in the House, plus additional dining area for all the lawmakers.
In the meantime the Senate meets at the KICC and offices for most of the staff, the Senate Speaker and some senior senators are also located there.
“Parliament should try to occupy already existing government offices as opposed to purchasing,” reads a proposal in the minutes with the Cabinet Secretary of the National Treasury.
Save for the conference facilities at KICC, the PSC is free to occupy the rest of the building and get offices for the lawmakers and their staff.
The office scarcity has seen the PSC offer Sh50,000 to help the lawmakers who can rent offices within Nairobi pay the rent, but the MPs said the rent is too little to get office space within the precincts of the House. So far, only two MPs got alternative office addresses.
In its recommendations to the House, the Budget and Appropriations Committee chaired by Mr Mutava Musyimi, said these are “hard times” for the country and therefore “tough decisions” were required, if only to reduce the Sh7 billion deficit in Parliament’s budget.
The committee thus agreed with the Treasury to raise the money due to Parliament by Sh1.5 billion, from Sh17.5 billion to Sh19 billion. It ignored the PSC’s budget of Sh24.5 billion and added that Parliament should learn to operate within the ceilings allocated by the National Treasury.
“It is our considered opinion that this amount is enough to cater for the expanded Parliament including the provision for offices for MPs and all other expenses,” said the committee in its report scheduled for debate this week.
The quest for space has given the MPs an excuse to kick journalists out of the precincts of the National Assembly. There’s also a ban on the use of facilities, such as the cafeteria in Parliament buildings, which extends to journalists and staff of Parliament.
MPs have also been asked to only invite one person for lunch, to ensure that the traffic within the corridors of the House are kept low.
There’s a fresh accreditation of journalists, that is scheduled beginning this week, and it is meant to ensure that very few journalists have access and when they do, they are confined to the gallery of the House.
According to the National Assembly Speaker, Mr Justin Muturi, over 230 members of both the National Assembly and the Senate do not have offices.

“Parliamentary office holders, including me, are operating from offices not commensurate to their status. We have made a conscious decision to use every space available, the media centre is one such facility,” said Mr Muturi as he tried to explain away the order for the closure of the Media Centre and its subsequent conversion into committee rooms.

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