Quorum hitch delays Senate sitting

Quorum hitch delays Senate sitting for 20 minutes
Updated Wednesday, July 31st 2013 at 13:30 GMT +3

By ALPHONCE SHIUNDU

NAIROBI; KENYA: Senate Deputy Speaker Kembi Gitura read a riot act to the party whips in the Upper House to make sure that there are enough lawmakers in the House to execute the agenda.

Mr Gitura said it was “unfortunate” for the whips to lead in skipping House sittings.

The Deputy Speaker spoke on Wednesday morning after a quorum hitch delayed the beginning of the sitting for 20 minutes, because, out of the 67 senators, only 11 were in the House.

The quorum for the Senate according to theConstitution and the Standing Orders of the Senate is 15 senators.

“I think that the whips have a role to play to ensure that we have quorum. Yet, the whips of both the Majority Party and the Minority Party are not here. They should be here to ensure there’s quorum,” said Mr Gitura.

The Deputy Speaker added: “It is the responsibility of the whips to see that we have a quorum in this House.”

Dr Boni Khalwale, the Kakamega Senator, also called on the Deputy Speaker to caution the Leader of Majority to ensure that he’s also in the House to make sure that the numbers from his party are enough to transact business.

But the Deputy Speaker said the role of the quorum was for the whips and they had to step up their game.

According to House rules, the role of the whips is to ensure that “Senators of their respective parties attend to House business particularly when there is contentious business to be transacted with a view to ensuring that each party’s policy stance/agenda is passed.”

Although there was nothing contentious in the House on Wednesday morning, the Majority Whip Beatrice Elachi and Minority Whip Johnstone Muthama plus their respective deputies Mike Sonko (Nairobi) and Janet Ong’era (nominated) were all absent.

The session of the Senate cannot begin without a minimum of 15 senators.

But once the sitting begins a senator must notify the Speaker or the person on the chair that the numbers are below the requisite quorum.

If such an alert is raised, the House has to stop the proceedings, ring a bell to get senators back to the House. If the quorum is reached, the proceedings continue. If the quorum is missed, the House adjourns.