By NATION REPORTER
Posted Friday, November 4 2011 at 18:59
Posted Friday, November 4 2011 at 18:59
PNU became the first casualty as MPs set in motion their plan to reconstitute the Parliamentary Service Commission, the administrative wing of Kenya’s National Assembly.
The last-minute ambush on the floor of the House on Thursday saw lawmakers install Mr Adan Keynan as a permanent member of the commission for the remaining life of the Tenth Parliament.
The backbenchers thwarted PNU’s intention to reserve the seat in the commission for former vice-chairman Walter Nyambati, who is set to battle it out in a by-election in Kitutu Masaba. (READ: Kenyan MPs want House team to quit)
Joint Government Whip Johnstone Muthama and Turkana Central MP Ekwee Ethuro had a rough time in Parliament as MPs from both ODM and PNU wings of the coalition said there was no point in appointing Mr Keynan to the commission in an acting capacity.
Meddling in affairs
Mr Muthama’s attempt to accuse ODM of meddling in the internal affairs of PNU fell flat after he was reminded that once a party submits a nominee to the House, the decision of MPs becomes superior to that of the party.
The tiff between Mr Muthama and Deputy Whip Jeremiah Kioni also played out in the House. Mr Kioni joined MPs to humiliate Mr Muthama.
Mr Kioni said he was a PNU member yet he had not been consulted before the decision to nominate Mr Keynan to the PSC was taken.
Mr John Mbadi (Gwassi) and Mr Charles Kilonzo (Yatta) — who are at the forefront in the crusade to send home six commissioners of the PSC for alleged malfeasance in procurement and recruitment, together with Mr Danson Mungatana (Garsen) — made sure that Mr Keynan, a member of the PNU coalition, was not appointed to the PSC “to warm the seat for a person who was a stranger to the House”.
Even after his ouster from the House via a court decision, Mr Nyambati continued to enjoy enormous privileges only reserved for sitting MPs, among them access to his office and use of other parliamentary facilities like catering services. (READ: Ex-MP using House office after losing his seat)
Powerful commission
These are just a show of his influence within the powerful commission.
The resolve to kick out Mr Nyambati, the MPs argue, was a result of incompetence and malfeasance in the PSC, a team in which the Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Kenneth Marende, and the Leader of Government Business, Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, sit. (READ: MPs plot to disband powerful House team)
The politics of locking out Mr Nyambati from the PSC is two-fold. It is likely to work against his re-election because he has nothing to look forward to or even promise his constituents.
The blame heaped on him by MPs and some members of the PSC for alleged malfeasance in the commission is likely to be a campaign tool for his opponents keen to ensure he does not make it back to the House.
The second political dimension is that Mr Kioni and his allies, who have been plotting a coup against Mr Muthama, scored some political points.
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